GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC):

A former army lieutenant charged with sedition and advocating the commission of a terrorist act was on Tuesday remanded to prison.

Oliver Hinckson, 64, was not required to make a plea to the indictable charges, and although his battery of lawyers made spirited arguments in his defence, Principal Magistrate, Melissa-Robertson-Ogle, remanded the former army officer until today.

In his address to the court, defence lawyer Nigel Hughes provided an extract of the statement made by Hinckson, while stating that there was no evidence by his own words or otherwise, which advocated the use of bombs, dynamite as provided for in Guyana's anti-terrorism laws.

Hughes said that what his client did was to encourage dialogue with all stakeholders and President Bharrat Jagdeo.

Hughes said that the charges brought against Hinckson were an act of 'malicious prosecution', noting that the allegations were 'considerably oppressive'.

But prosecutor Desiree Fowler said Hinckson, on January 31, uttered a seditious speech to the public and news media, as well as to bring hatred and contempt to the president and or the government to promote public disorder. She added that on the same day, Hinckson advocated the commission of a terrorist act.

Trouble

However, it appears that the comments made by Hinckson on February 1, at a news conference hosted by City Mayor Hamilton Greene, may have got him in trouble with the authorities.

Hinckson had promised then to mediate between the gunmen and the government to quell the killings.

He said he and Dorian Massay, another former army officer, who was also charged on Tuesday for having in his possession a military kit, as well as other soldiers, felt like many other Guyanese: "dispossessed, disenfranchised and disillusioned".