UPDATE: Martin charged with incitement; granted bail

Martin leaving court Tuesday afternoon

Political activist and talk show host, Artherton “Athie” Martin, appeared at the Roseau magistrate’s court today, Tuesday, December 18th, charged with incitement to block a public road in Roseau.

Martin was not required to enter a plea as the matter is an indictable one which will be heard in the High Court.

The accused was granted bail in the sum $7,500.00 with Dr. Irving Pascal serving as surety.

The charge stems from statements, which according to the charge sheet, were made by Martin at an “unlawful”  protest in Roseau in which he asked members of the public to block the road.

Some protesters insist that Martin’s call for a roadblock followed previous requests which they had made to the police to divert traffic from the area in which they were located and which was posing a threat to their safety.

The protest action was organized by the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) to impress on the Electoral Commission the need for electoral reform in Dominica.

Martin’s matter was adjourned to 1st April 2019.

Cara Shillingford serves as lead counsel along with Julian Prevost, Gildon Richards, Joshua Francis, David Bruney and Ronald Charles on his defense team.

 

 

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21 Comments

  1. December 20, 2018

    This complaint leaves a lot to be desired in regards to the efficiency and astuteness of the CDPF i’m sure by the time this matter (if it does) gets to trial the office of the DPP will withdraw it and fresh sensible complaints will be presented to the court; It shows the haste in which things were done to save face. Come on guys please restore the credibility of the CDPF.

  2. Castle Bruce memory
    December 19, 2018

    Don’t worry. Shed no tears. Athie loves this sort of thing.
    Ever since Castle Bruce in 1972 when he organised a revolt and left the Co-operative high and dry to paddle their own canoe and sink.
    Then later in the 1970s joined Committee of National Salvation CNS and was made a minister. Lasted less than six months.
    Then on with UWP until he turned against them for mystery copper mine and $100,000 prize for resistance.
    Then on with Roosie and again as minister for less than six months.
    The only person that did not let Athie fool her was the Dame Eugenia Charles.
    Let him enjoy his fame and fortune and martyrdom. He like it so.!

  3. I was thinking...
    December 19, 2018

    ….and what about the time when the sitting president had say strike…..and the government had shut down? All of this was for change…..and change did come. I do not condone lawlessness, but when things not working the way it should we need a few brave soldiers!

  4. Ron
    December 19, 2018

    Next time he will spend the week!!

  5. jamie
    December 19, 2018

    When the dictator Skerrit is done killing and ripping the poor,his home in new jersey awaits him,you people are so stupid and blind,while continuing to support this regime,but no dictator has ever had a good ending.

  6. God's Child
    December 19, 2018

    This mockery of a criminal complaint has no magistrate’s signature on it. It means that the police sent it out to be circulated on social media even before it is was filed in the court and signed by the magistrate. The gossip and scandal machinery begins to roll from within the police force but God is good….EVERY long rope has its end. Keep it up…..

  7. My Two Cents
    December 19, 2018

    This concerned citizen group is just full of crap. you mean to tell me that electorial reform is the only concern we have in Dominica. So many underaged children making babies at PMH, so many are being abused. Why not launch a campainge against all of this instead of trying to bring unrest in the country?

    Come better than that

    • %
      December 19, 2018

      @ My Two Cents
      Why can’t hou take up some of the other concerns and run with them? Are you not a Dominican? The CCM deserves plaudits and acclaim for taking up the most germane aspects of a democratic society and demanding that it is done..
      The region should applaud them profusely.
      Your comment suggest to me that you are a sick Dominican..Elections should not be stolen!!!
      Skerrit Must Go
      Skerrit Must Go
      Lazy Skerrit Must Go Now

      • Neville
        December 19, 2018

        That one is too afraid of upsetting the dictator.

    • jamie
      December 19, 2018

      Yeah hypocrite like you,why the government is so lenient on the perps who does the rapes and abuse,Skerrit is desperate to remain in power and dictators do that,so come better,Dominica is doomed and soon when the major quake comes,hopefully the island will go back to what it once was.

    • December 19, 2018

      When gets out of office, he cannot step into the US.
      That is one of the reasons why he will stop ay nothing to destroy anyone or anything to ensue he governs.
      His diplomatic immunity expires when he get kick out of office.
      Of all his criminal comrades, he is the only one who had not been detained or arrested.
      The US us waiting.

  8. bakes
    December 19, 2018

    You hold a protest which was not authorized and you demand that the Police divert the traffic? Wow. We talk about activist I remember as a child one such activist during the dreadlocks incident calling for people to go to Cuba and not long after that same activist took his Family and ran to America when hurricane David struck. I will ask that you think carefully before becoming a follower of something that non of us seem to fully understand.
    I am not saying it isn’t time for a change. Looking at the options they sure don’t look any better so we are kinda stuck as they say between a rock and a hard place.

    • Neville
      December 20, 2018

      Your name says it all… nothing more to be added!

  9. Ibo France
    December 19, 2018

    I have said this already and it is worth repeating. The longer a political party remains in power the more corrupt and dictatorial it becomes. Do a serious evaluation of Skerrit and the DLP. They have been a scandal-laden government – garbage bins, fertilizer, no public bidding for government multi-million dollars projects, etcetera. Many citizens have been dragged through the court system for frivolous reasons and for fabricated infractions of the law (coup d’etat) . The Police Force operates at the behest of Skerrit, it has become a paramilitary wing of the DLP. They no longer serve and protect the citizens, they abuse and arrest. Dominica is now a satellite of China and Russia, the two biggest dictatorships in the history of mankind. The strongmanism should never be allowed to prevail.

  10. World's Moistest Jheri Curl
    December 18, 2018

    I know his wife is excited to have him back home after he was unjustly arrested.

    And to those who call him a criminal…. throughout history if we listened to the Gov’t about how, when, why or how we should protest many of the greatest members of society would not exist. From Martin Luther King to Mahatma Gandhi. From Nelson Mandela to Vere Bird and the countless of Dominicans who led and started Dominica’s original Labour Party.

    Grell Francis in his 1976 PhD thesis from McMaster University included this quote:

    “A nation devoid of a sense of its history is not worthy of the name. A people blind to its past can have no claim to national pride. We need the torchlight of the past to illuminate the present and to guide us to the future. These thoughts are worthy of of serious considerations.”

    A1fred C. Leevy, “The Need to know our History”. 1972

  11. Bring back the kidnapped Dominican parrots.
    December 18, 2018

    Dominica is headed for a revolution, hope it is not an armed revolt. A dictatorship has taken over the island.

    • Frank N Stein
      December 19, 2018

      heading to revolution with five people from one party? Exactly how do you see this as a majority. I am ready for skerrit to go but honestly how can he when only five of us show up? You call this democracy? If UWP was in power would they cave for a five man demonstration? what if the larger number who wants skerrit decide to counterprotest? Will you accept it as their democratic right? We have to ask ourselves some serious questions here and stop talking BS. The silent ones can see through the bs.

  12. Parker
    December 18, 2018

    You all protest like children instead of intelligent adults and thereby make yourselves easy targets for a corrupt administration. Sort yourselves out.

  13. December 18, 2018

    My insight is showing me that those involved in promoting disdain and discord in Dominica, is taking that kind of unrest for our people too far.

    People who are concerned for the well being of the people of their Nation, do not take that concern into political issues, and other activities which can only motivate war–that is not concerns for the citizens

    There can never be peace and harmony where politics is the subject of the day; those who are concerned for the people will advocate unity and peace for the sake of those in their environment.

    As far as I am concerned there can be no “peaceful demonstration” because the conduct itself is from the minds which are not at peace in the first place. That was the exact reason for the disobedient of the Law this past weekend,

  14. Pioneer
    December 18, 2018

    This gov’t digging itself into a deeper hole day by day…

    • December 18, 2018

      @Piomeer

      How do you see it to be the Government doing that? Do you people have no understanding?

      The problem it is from a few disgruntled people trying to take control of the laws of the Land. Civil disobedience must remain in control, as steadfast as can be; that behavior is not the conduct of the Government, but of the people–who believe that they have the right to disobey the Law without being disciplined.

      That is not so in not Nation of the World; then those who disobey and disrespect the Law, they must answer to their conduct–regardless of who they are.

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