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The Grenada 17 were the seventeen political, military and civilian figures convicted of murders associated with the October 1983 palace coup against Prime Minister Maurice Bishop's government of Grenada.
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The Grenada 17 were the seventeen political, military and civilian figures convicted of murders associated with the October 1983 palace coup against Prime Minister Maurice Bishop's government of Grenada.
On 13 October 1983, various officials of the People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) of Grenada, under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard, deposed and secretly placed under house arrest Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. Once his detention became publicly known, mass protests occurred throughout the country. On 19 October, "crowds estimated at between 15,000 to 30,000 persons shut down workplaces, poured into the streets of the capital, St. George’s, and freed Bishop from house arrest." [1]
Bishop then went with a large group to army headquarters at Fort Rupert. Later in the day, an army unit arrived from Fort Frederick and some civilians at the fort died in an ensuing skirmish. After the fighting, eight people were lined up against a courtyard wall inside the fort for a considerable amount of time before being shot by firing squad. The eight executed people consisted of:
The United States invasion of Grenada on 25 October 1983 overthrew the Coard Government. Three years later, eighteen people were put on trial for their responsibility in the killing of Prime Minister Bishop and the seven others. On 4 December 1986, the High Court of Grenada returned death sentences against fourteen of the accused:
In addition to the fourteen, two other defendants were found guilty of eight incidents of manslaughter and handed 45-year prison sentences.
Andy Mitchell was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Raeburn Nelson was found not guilty and released.
All fourteen death sentences were subsequently commuted to prison terms.
On 18 December 2008, Hudson Austin, Colville McBarnett and John Ventour were released. The remaining prisoners were due to be released by 2010, [2] and on Friday, 4 September 2009, the final seven held in connection with the Bishop coup were released from prison. Senator Chester Humphrey described the release as a milestone in the island's effort to heal wounds from the events of 1983. "It's the end of one chapter, not the completion of the book, as Grenada tries to build a future by not living in the past," he said, according to Associated Press news agency reports on 26 January 2009. [3]
The Grenada 17 always maintained that they could not be held responsible for the murders. The accused who were in positions of authority in government and the army claim to have given no orders for the executions. Callistus Bernard, the private who admits to organizing the firing squad and having shot Bishop, states that he "lost it". Several senior army officers present that day allege to have been elsewhere in the fort when the firing squad commenced.
Colville McBarnette admitted his participation in a Central Committee meeting that he claims ordered the execution of Bishop. However, he says he is innocent because of the minor degree of responsibility he bore in the decision.
Ewart Layne signed a confession at the time of Bishop's murder accepting sole responsibility for issuing the orders which led to the executions. But Layne later said he was beaten and forced to sign the statement.
Hudson Austin had never explained his actions nor attempted to defend them.
Bernard Coard, the head of government at the time, stated that he intended to leave the country after protests broke out in reaction to his arrest of Bishop. [4]
Some questioned the fairness of the defendants' trial. Numerous people campaigned on their behalf worldwide, and a pamphlet by Richard Hart, The Grenada Trial: A Travesty of Justice (Committee for Human Rights in Grenada, 1993), critiqued the trial process. In October 2003, Amnesty International issued a report stating that the Grenada 17 should be granted "a prompt, fair and impartial" new trial, and referred to them as "the last of the Cold War prisoners". [1] [5] By 2009, every member of the Grenada 17 had been released. [6]
The history of Grenada in the Caribbean, part of the Lesser Antilles group of islands, covers a period from the earliest human settlements to the establishment of the contemporary nationstate of Grenada. First settled by indigenous peoples, Grenada by the time of European contact was inhabited by the Caribs. French colonists killed most of the Caribs on the island and established plantations on the island, eventually importing African slaves to work on the sugar plantations.
The United States and a coalition of six Caribbean countries invaded the small island nation of Grenada, 100 miles (160 km) north of Venezuela, at dawn on 25 October 1983. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, it resulted in military occupation within a few days. It was triggered by strife within the People's Revolutionary Government, which led to the house arrest and execution of the previous leader and second Prime Minister of Grenada, Maurice Bishop, and to the establishment of the Revolutionary Military Council, with Hudson Austin as chairman. Following the invasion there was an interim government appointed, and then general elections held in December 1984.
Maurice Rupert Bishop was a Grenadian revolutionary and the leader of the New Jewel Movement (NJM) – a Marxist–Leninist party that sought to prioritise socio-economic development, education and black liberation. The NJM came to power during the 13 March 1979 revolution which removed Prime Minister Eric Gairy from office. Bishop headed the People's Revolutionary Government of Grenada (PRG) from 1979 to 1983. In October 1983. he was deposed as Prime Minister and executed during a coup engineered by Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard. This quickly led to the demise of the PRG.
Winston Bernard Coard is a Grenadian politician who was Deputy Prime Minister in the People's Revolutionary Government of the New Jewel Movement. Coard launched a coup within the revolutionary government and took power for three days until he was himself deposed by General Hudson Austin.
The New Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation, or New JEWEL Movement (NJM), was a Marxist–Leninist vanguard party in the Caribbean island nation of Grenada that was led by Maurice Bishop.
Sir Paul Godwin Scoon was a Grenadian politician who served as Governor-General of Grenada from 1978 to 1992. His tenure is notable for its hectic events related to the rise and fall of the People's Revolutionary Government, as well as his personal involvement and support of the invasion of Grenada.
Landsberg Prison is a prison in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about 65 kilometres (40 mi) west-southwest of Munich and 35 kilometres (22 mi) south of Augsburg. It is best known as the prison where Adolf Hitler was held in 1924, after the failed Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, and where he dictated his memoirs Mein Kampf to Rudolf Hess.
Jon Michael Geoffrey Manningham Adams, known as Tom Adams, was a Barbadian politician who served as the second prime minister of Barbados from 1976 until 1985.
The People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) was proclaimed on 13 March 1979 after the Marxist–Leninist New Jewel Movement overthrew the government of Grenada in a revolution, making Grenada the only socialist state within the Commonwealth. In Grenada, the revolution is referred to as the March 13th Revolution of 1979 or simply as “The Revolution”. The government suspended the constitution and ruled by decree until a factional conflict broke out, culminating in an invasion by the United States on 25 October 1983.
Hudson Austin was a general in the People's Revolutionary Army of Grenada. After the killing of Maurice Bishop, he formed a military government with himself as chairman to rule Grenada.
The Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) is responsible for law enforcement in Grenada. The RGPF enforces criminal, immigration, and maritime laws. It is also held responsible for seaport security and fire services. With 14 police stations and over 940 staff members, the force responds to over 15,000 crimes and incidents per year. The Royal Grenada Police Force also has a paramilitary force for national defense.
Grenada – United States relations are bilateral relations between Grenada and the United States. The United States recognized Grenada on 7 February 1974, the same day as Grenada got independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. These nations formally established diplomatic relations on 29 November 1974.
Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about 100 miles (160 km) north of Trinidad and the South American mainland.
The Caribbean Peace Force (CPF), also known as the Caribbean Peacekeeping Force and the Eastern Caribbean Peace Force (ECPF), was a 350-member peacekeeping force operating in Grenada from October 1983 to June 1985 after the Invasion of Grenada, codenamed Operation Urgent Fury. The military intervention by the United States of America in coalition with six Caribbean nations was in response to the illegal deposition and execution of Grenadan Prime Minister Maurice Bishop on Oct. 19, 1983. Bishop's revolutionary regime was briefly replaced by a military junta composed entirely of Grenadian military officers. On October 25, 1983, the United States, Barbados, Jamaica and members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States landed on Grenada, defeated Grenadian and Cuban resistance and overthrew the military government of Hudson Austin.
Glynis Roberts is a politician from the tri-island nation of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. She is the Political Leader of the National United Front and the first female leader of a political party in Grenada. She was first elected to parliament in 2003 and represents the St George South constituency for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the House of Representatives of Grenada. The House of Representatives is the lower house of the Parliament of Grenada. It has 15 members, elected for a five-year term in single-seat constituencies.
The People’s Revolutionary Army (PRA) was the military of Grenada between 1979 and 1983. The People's Revolutionary Militia served as its reserve force. The two, alongside the Grenada Police and the Coast Guard, were collectively termed as the People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (PRAF) from 1981.
Jacqueline Creft was a Grenadian politician, one of the leaders of the revolutionary New Jewel Movement and Minister of Education in the People's Revolutionary Government from 1980 to 1983. She was executed in October 1983, along with Maurice Bishop, prime minister of the country and father of her son Vladimir (1977–1994).
Ann Peters is a Grenadian politician who previously served as health minister. A nurse by training, Peters has also served as a senator for the National Democratic Congress party and as president of the Grenada Nurses Association.
Richmond Hill Prison is a prison in Saint George's, the capital of Grenada. Known officially as His Majesty's Prison, it is run by the Ministry of National Security. The prison governor is Mr. Rupert Neckles, the Commissioner of Prisons in Grenada.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Grenada. Despite its legality, there have been no executions since 1978. Grenada is considered "abolitionist in practice", and is currently the only country in the Americas in this category. There is currently one person on death row in Grenada, as of August 30, 2021. During its United Nations Universal Periodic Review on January 27, 2020, Grenada informed the UN that it was a de facto abolitionist state with a de facto moratorium in effect since 1978, and that it would not carry out any executions. Abolishing capital punishment in law was part of one of the amendments during the failed 2016 Grenadian constitutional referendum. Grenada voted against the United Nations moratorium on the death penalty in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and most recently, in 2020. Grenada is not a signatory to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.