Stephenson King.
Former Prime Minister Stephenson King has denied claims of being directly involved in the execution of “Operation Restore Confidence.”
King told media operatives yesterday that “Operation Restore Confidence” was intended to provide intelligence, surveillance and to cooperate with the public to suppress crime.
“Operation Restore Confidence was a genuine effort based on the calls of the people, to bring order to this land. As you remember during that time, the people were saying we need to bring order,” he explained.
King denied that he gave direct orders to the police to shoot and kill people between 2009-2011, who were said to be on a blacklist. He said he only appealed to police to maintain law and order.
“How can I give instruction to shoot and kill? This is absurd. No prime minister does that. My conscience is clear on everything: on finance, administration of governance and the issue of the police,” King asserted.
In commenting on Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony speech on the IMPACS report on the alleged extra-judicial killings, King said it has done more harm and has sparked “unease.”
He dubbed the report, “disturbing, hopeless and questionable.” King said citizens have been left in the dark and could have some impact on the investment climate here, if not settled soon enough.
The former prime minister said he also finds it disturbing that the report supplants the findings of inquests into the deaths of suspects.
King has said that the contents of the report of the investigation into the killings should be made public, once national security would not be threatened.
The main findings into the 2009-2011 extra-judicial killings, confirms that the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) worked from a “black list or death list” of persons deemed criminals and officers staged all shooting-death sites to legitimise their actions.
The report also states that not only normal officers were involved in the operations, but members of the “high command of the police force” may have been involved in “covering up these matters”.
More alarmingly, the investigators report said that all the shootings reviewed were fake encounters staged by the police to legitimise their actions.
The alleged extra-judicial killings by police officers were carried during “Operation Restore Confidence” – an initiative then Prime Minister Stephenson King announced on May 30, 2010 in an address to the nation.
The police operation was in response to an unprecedented wave of homicides and violent crimes between 2008 and 2010, particularly in the northern half of the island.
Between 2010 and 2011, 12 persons were killed during encounters with officers of the RSLPF.