Grenada 17

The Grenada 17 are seventeen political, military and civilian figures who were convicted of various crimes associated with the overthrow of the Maurice Bishop government of Grenada in 1983 and the subsequent murder of Bishop.

In October 1983, various officials of the people's revolutionary government (PRG) of Grenada under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard deposed and put under house arrest Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. Large public demonstrations followed all over the country. On 19 October 1983, a large demonstration at the Prime Minister's residence led to Bishop being freed. 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 a large number of civilians at the fort subsequently died.

After the fighting, eight persons were lined up facing a courtyard wall at the fort. They were subsequently killed. The dead consisted of:

After the overthrow of the Coard Government, eighteen people were put on trial for their responsibility in the death of Maurice Bishop. On 4 December 1986 the High Court returned death sentences against 14 individuals in the deaths of Bishop and the seven others:

Two men were found guilty of eight incidents of manslaughter and given 45-year prison sentences.

Andy Michell was found guilty of manslaughter and given 30 years in prison.

Raeburn Nelson was found not guilty and released.

All the death sentences have subsequently been commuted.

On 18 December 2008, Hudson Austin, Colville McBarnett and John Ventour were released. The seven remaining prisoners were due to be released by 2010. On Friday, 4 September 2009, the final seven prisoners 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.

The seventeen have always maintained that they cannot be held responsible in relation to the murders of Maurice Bishop and the seven others. Those of the seventeen in positions of authority in government and in the army claim to have given no orders for the execution of the men and women. 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 at the fort claim to have been elsewhere in the fort at the time of the executions.

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