ST. GEORGE'S, (AP):
A FOURTH person was detained on suspicion of distributing copies of an article that claimed Grenada's prime minister accepted an improper payoff, police said yesterday.
Prime Minister Keith Mitchell has vehemently denied the report, published on April 30 in the Miami-based online newsletter OffshoreAlert. Mitchell also has filed a libel lawsuit in Grenadian court against David Marchant, the article's author and OffshoreAlert publisher.
Opposition activist Louisa Belfon, the third member of National Democratic Congress party to be detained in a month, was picked up by police Tuesday at her home and held for more than six hours before she was released without being charged.
QUESTIONS
Belfon's lawyer, Peter David, said she refused to answer the police's questions.
"The government is systematically targeting junior members of the party as a prelude to getting at the top leadership," said David, who is also an opposition legislator.
Belfon is the fourth person detained for allegedly distributing copies of the OffshoreAlert article, which cited allegations that Mitchell accepted US$500,000 from a German-born man in exchange for a trade minister position.
Mitchell denies the allegations, saying former trade counsellor Eric E. Resteiner offered to cover travel expenses for Mitchell's delegation on a 2000 promotional and investment tour of France, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Kuwait. The government in the Caribbean country maintains such actions are common practice.
Resteiner gave Mitchell about US$15,000 for the trip without hope of personal benefit, government spokeswoman Nancy McGuire has said.
Last month two opposition party members were detained and questioned by police, one held overnight, for allegedly distributing the article. Neither was charged with a crime.
The government also has warned that journalists who repeat the allegations also could face legal action.
Reporter Leroy Noel of the Cayman Islands-based Caribbean Net News also was detained and questioned by police last week after writing about the matter. He was released without charges.
The Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders has expressed concern, calling that detention a "serious violation of press freedom."
