Marcus Bisram’s lawyer, US prosecutors clash over extradition treaty

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provisions of the Fugitive Offenders Act, which at the time said “no one shall be extradited or kept in custody for the purpose of extradition from Guyana to another country unless provision has been made by that Commonwealth or treaty-country for ensuring that they would not be extradited to a third country for trial of any offence without the consent of the minister.”

In the wake of that case, the then government passed an amendment to the Fugitive Offenders Act, which addressed the conflict.

Well-established In response to Bisram’s lawyer’s argument, the US prosecution pointed out that the existence of a treaty between the United States and Guyana is well-established and argued that the fact that one Guyanese court recognised a potential conflict between the treaty and internal Guyanese law does not in any way vitiate the treaty as a matter of US or international law. It was also pointed out that after Guyana gained independence the treaty remained in effect. According to the US government, the treaty provides an explicit mechanism for exiting it and this has not been employed and neither country has indicated intentions to do so.

Further, it was noted that Dataram’s case is wholly inapplicable since it involved extradition from Guyana to the US and it was Guyana which determined that the possibility that the fugitive would be extradited from the US to a third country meant that any extradition would be “contrary to the prohibitive provision of section 8(3)(b) of the Fugitive Offenders Act.” It was pointed out that there is no allegation that Guyana’s Fugitive Offenders Act will be violated by extradition in this case from the US to Guyana. Bisram’s lawyer had also called into question the evidence against him in the local courts but this was described as misplaced by the prosecution in the context of an extradition hearing. It was pointed out that whether he is in fact guilty is a matter for Guyana’s courts to determine when he stands trial in Guyana and also he is not entitled to a mini-trial in the US.

Bisram is behind bars in the US following his arrest on July 4 in New York pursuant to a warrant issued by Magistrate Judge James C Francis IV on June 16. The trial is set to commence on September 11.

Bisram, police have alleged, procured and commanded Orlando Dickie, Radesh Motie, Diodath Datt, Harri Paul Parsram, and Niran Yacoob to murder Narinedatt between October 31 and November 1, 2016, at Number 70 Village, Berbice. A preliminary inquiry into the murder charge against them is ongoing.