St. Lucia police accused of killing suspected criminals

Police in the Caribbean country of St. Lucia have been accused of keeping “death lists” and carrying out extrajudicial killings of suspected criminals in an attempt to make the island more attractive to tourists.

According to an independent report, officers from the Royal St. Lucia Police Force “staged” a dozen shootings and reported them as murders by unknown assailants, planting weapons at the scene. Kenny Anthony, the island’s prime minister, delivered a televised address in which he said the findings of the report, which has not been published, were “extremely damning ”.

The shootings took place in 2010 and 2011 during a security drive called Operation Restore Confidence, which was aimed at reducing violent crime and boosting tourism — a sector integral to the country’s economy.

In January 2014, British tourist Roger Pratt was murdered as four men stormed his yacht near the southern town of Vieux Fort.

At the time of Operation Restore Confidence, the St. Lucia government issued a public warning to criminals that “there will be no hiding place for anyone.”

Five of the dozen men shot dead were killed in a single operation in Vieux Fort.

In August 2013, after rumours of unlawful killings came to light, the United States suspended all assistance it was giving to the island’s police force. The U. S. State Department said there were “credible allegations of gross human rights violations” and the independent investigators from the Jamaica Constabulary Force were called in.

They have described officers operating in “an environment of impunity and permissiveness designed to achieve the desired results”, with senior commanders showing “wilful blindness.”

Anthony added that, “the report confirms that ‘ the blacklist or death lists’ referenced by the media, human rights organizations, victims’ f amilies and citizens alike did exist. More alarmingly, the investigators report that all the shootings reviewed were ‘ fake encounters’ staged by the police to legitimize their actions.

“The weapons supposedly found on the scene of the alleged extrajudicial killings were from sources other than the victims.”