Choksi to face illegal entry charges: Court

CHOKSI’S LAWYERS TOLD A COURT IN DOMINICA THAT HE IS A CITIZEN OF ANTIGUA

AND SHOULD BE REPATRIATED TO THE ISLAND

A top Caribbean court on Wednesday ordered fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi to face charges of illegally entering Dominica, and adjourned till Thursday a petition filed by the businessman’s lawyers challenging his detention in the island.

The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court said that Choksi -- who mysteriously vanished from Antigua on May 23 before being detained three days later in Dominica, roughly 100 nautical miles away – should be brought from jail to a Dominican magistrate court to respond to the charges by the Dominica government.

The court was hearing a

NEW DELHI:

habeas corpus petition by Choksi’s lawyers, who argued that he was illegally abducted from Antigua, where he is a citizen, and physically tortured.

The lawyers told the court that Choksi was a citizen of Antigua, had family there, and was currently fighting two cases pertaining to his extradition and revocation of citizenship, so he should be repatriated to the island.

Judge Bernie Stephenson heard the matter through videoconferencing with the 62-yearold businessman attending virtually from the hospital where he was admitted recently.

During the roughly threehour hearing, Choksi’s lawyers said that Dominica Police violated the island’s law of producing a person in court within 72 hours of charging them with a crime.

The court ordered Choksi be immediately produced before a magistrate’s court, where a separate trial is likely to commence if he doesn’t plead guilty to the charges. The Dominican magistrate is expected to hear the matter in the early hours of Thursday, India time.