Grenada 17

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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 direction 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, a convoy of soldiers arrived from Fort Frederick to retake control of Fort Rupert. Some civilians died in the ensuing skirmish. After the fighting, eight people were lined up against a courtyard wall inside Fort Rupert for a lengthy period of time before finally being shot by firing squad. The eight executed people were:

• Prime Minister Maurice Bishop
• Foreign Minister Unison Whiteman
• Minister of Housing Norris Bain
• President of the Agricultural and General Workers Union Fitzroy Bain
• Minister of Education Jacqueline Creft
• Keith Hayling of the Marketing & National Import Board
• Evelyn Bullen, businessman
• Cecil Evelyn Maitland, businessman

On 25 October 1983, the United States invaded Grenada and overthrew the Coard Government. Three years later, eighteen people were put on trial for their involvement 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:

• Hudson Austin (Head of the Army)
• Bernard Coard (Deputy Prime Minister/Acting Prime Minister)
• Dave Bartholomew (Grenadian politician) (Central Committee member)
• Callistus Bernard (private in charge of the firing squad at Fort Rupert - admitted shooting Bishop)
• Phyllis Coard (Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs)
• Leon Cornwall (Central Committee member)
• Liam James (Grenadian politician) (Central Committee member)
• Ewart Layne (General - dispatched army forces to Fort Rupert)
• Colville McBarnette (Central Committee member)
• Cecil Prime (Captain - present at Fort Rupert at the time of the executions)
• Lester Redhead (Captain - present at Fort Rupert at the time of the executions)
• Selwyn "Sello" Strachan (Central Committee member)
• Christopher Stroude (Major - present at Fort Rupert at the time of the executions)
• John Ventour (Captain)

In addition to the fourteen, two other defendants were found guilty of eight incidents of manslaughter and handed 45-year prison sentences.

• Raymond Vincent Joseph
• Cosmos Richardson

Andy Mitchell was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was the last member of the Grenada 17. 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.^[2] On Friday, 4 September 2009, the final seven held in connection with the coup against Bishop were released from prison. Senator Chester Humphrey described it as a milestone in the island's efforts to heal wounds from the events of October 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.^[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]

• "Grenada 17". Committee for Human Rights in Grenada. Archived from the original on 1 July 2007.