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GRENADA -
Lawyers urge leniency for '83 coup plotters |
 
Left: Former General and Commander of the Grenadian Armed
Forces, Hudson Austin, front right, is escorted by a police
officer upon his arrival to the Grenada Supreme Court for a
resentencing hearing in St. George's, yesterday.Right:
Grenada's former Deputy Prime Minister, Bernard Coard,
(right), is escorted by a prison guard upon his arrival to
the Grenada Supreme Court for a resentencing hearing in St.
George's, yesterday. Coard is one of the 13 prisoners who
had previously been sentenced to death for killing the
southern Caribbean island's Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop,
four Cabinet members and six supporters in a 1983 coup that
triggered a U.S. invasion. - ap photos
ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada (AP): Lawyers for 13 leaders of
a coup that prompted the U.S. invasion of Grenada pleaded
for leniency at a resentencing hearing yesterday, saying
their clients have experienced a "spiritual transformation"
in prison.
The death sentences imposed in 1986 on former Deputy Prime
Minister Bernard Coard and the other prisoners were thrown
out in February by the London-based Privy Council, the
highest Court of Appeal for the former British territory.
The prisoners were convicted of killing former socialist
Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, four Cabinet members and six
supporters in a coup that led to the U.S. invasion of
Grenada in 1983.
"The defendants continue to maintain their innocence of
these charges, but express their deep sorrow at the events
of that day," said lead defence attorney Edward Fitzgerald.
"They've also accepted moral responsibility for the
tragedy."
Spiritual transformation
He urged the presiding judge of the Supreme Court not to
impose sentences of more than 35 years in consideration of
the prisoners' "spiritual transformation." |
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Defence lawyers
read testimonials from other inmates, including a
17-year-old convicted thief who said the defendants taught
him to read and write.
The judge is expected to issue new sentences this week.
During the 1986 trial, prosecutors said Coard and other
hard-line members of the Marxist government sent soldiers to
kill Bishop on October 19, 1983, considering him too
moderate.
Six days after the killings, thousands of U.S. troops
stormed the Caribbean island on a mission that then, U.S.
President Ronald Reagan said would restore order, protect
American medical students and prevent a buildup of Cuban
military advisers and weapons.
The hearings are being held in a trade centre to accommodate
more than 100 observers. Police threatened to arrest a
relative of one of the victims who approached a prisoner
during a bathroom break.
Four others convicted in 1986 were spared death sentences.
They included Coard's wife, Phyllis who was freed in 2000 to
undergo cancer treatment.
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