4 challenge extradition

Through their lawyers, Sgt Leon Nurse, Lance Corporal Ricardo De Four, Zion Clarke, and Kevon Demerieux, filed a notice in the Port-of-Spain High Court yesterday seeking a writ of habeas corpus against the Commissioner of Prisons.

The application of De Four comes up for hearing before Madame Justice Amrika Tiwary-Reddy in the Port-of-Spain High Court this morning. Clarke’s application will be heard before Justice Rajendra Narine next Monday, while no date has been fixed for hearing the applications of the other two.

The four applicants were arrested earlier this year for the murder of Maharaj, aged 62. Maharaj was kidnapped outside the Samaan Tree Bar in Aranjuez in April 2005. His remains were found in two containers on January 8 this year inside the Santa Cruz forest.

On April 27 while attending court in Port-of-Spain, the four applicants were arrested pursuant to a warrant arising out of a request by the United States for their extradition to face charges in Washington DC.

On October 2, Mc Nicolls ordered that the four be extradited to the US to face the charges. They had 15 days in which to appeal and they waited until the very last day to challenge their extradition.