Prosecutor: “This Is Absolutely Not A Witch Hunt†Attorneys Want Acquittal For All Election Fraud Defendants
St. Maarten – The attorneys for the four defendants in the 2010 election fraud case all zeroed in on the fact that the prosecution had exceeded the reasonable term for bringing the case to court, and they all asked the court to declare the prosecution inadmissible.
A hot item surfaced late in the day when attorney Eldon Sulvaran spoke up for his client Roy H. It started quietly with remarks that it is “impossible to prove that the freedom to vote has been affected,†that the initiative for the bribes had not come from his client and that nobody told the other defendants that they had to vote for the UP.
“Should non-elected judges intervene in this?†Sulvaran wondered, before quoting a witness who had said “that the investigation targets the Wathey and Heyliger families.†From there on, Sulvaran spoke of “secret trajectories†and of “wrong conclusions before the investigation even started.†In the end, he told the court: “There is a threat of political administration of justice.â€
The attorney added, “That any ruling in this case will affect the outcome of the elections and that is a dangerous development.†He also suggested postponing the court ruling until after the elections – a request the court did not honor because the law prescribes that rulings are pronounced two or three weeks after a trial.
“It is not correct to handle political cases before the elections,†Sulvaran said Read more
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