News Service: 194/99

AI INDEX: AMR 32/02/99

15 October 1999

PUBLIC STATEMENT

GRENADA

Amnesty International wishes to clarify that a meeting recently held by the organization in Grenada was not part of the organization’s efforts to address human rights violations in the Caribbean.

The meeting, held from 23 to 25 September 1999 and attended by Amnesty International members from the Caribbean as well as by staff members of the International Secretariat based in London, addressed issues relating to internal planning regarding the recruitment of Amnesty International members in the region.

Amnesty International wishes to stress that the meeting was not related to recent efforts, unconnected to Amnesty International, to obtain the release of the 17 men and women currently imprisoned in relation to the killing of former Grenada Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and several of his cabinet colleagues, nor to the case of the Belgian national [NAME WITHDRAWN]. To date, Amnesty International has not taken any action on the case of [NAME WITHDRAWN, a Belgian national who has been detained in Richmond Hill Prison, Grenada, since November 1997.

ENDS.../

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For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London,

UK, on 44 171 413 5566 or visit our website at http://www.amnesty.org