Gildarie shows up on island,
lawyer fails in bid for permits
PHILIPSBURG--Deported journalist of The National newspaper Leonard Gildarie turned up with his lawyer Denicio Brison at the Government Administration building Wednesday and said they were there to collect Gildarie’s residence and employment permits from the Lt. Governor’s office.
Accompanying them on their unsuccessful mission was Managing Editor of the newspaper Kendal Dupersoy. They were not allowed to have an audience with Acting Lt. Governor Mathias Voges because they didn’t have an appointment.
Brison told reporters during a press conference outside the Government Administration Building that he had gone there to collect Gildarie’s permit based on what he “assumes to be a new policy” that employment and residence permits are issued “within one day.”
He said a petition had been submitted to Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards on October 19 requesting that Gildarie be granted his work and residence permits based on the precedent set for Luna Antoine, a Venezuelan girl who allegedly was granted a residence permit recently within one day.
Brison said he assumed that a new procedure was now in place. “I assume that it has been approved. I assume that Gildarie can come and get his papers like Ms. Luna Antoine. … This is two weeks. It’s more than ample time,” he said.
“Ms. Antoine was even in jail and they fixed the paper in one day, so I am assuming that it’s a new policy that people don’t have to be off-island anymore. So based on this precedent and this new policy I believe Gildarie is standing on strong grounds and he has the same rights as Ms. Antoine.”
Brison declined to say how long Gildarie had been on the island and how he had managed to pass through airport immigration without a landing permit.
“Because we are in a delicate stage I will defer the answers to these questions until a later stage,” he told reporters.
Brison said he was prepared to “withdraw” the pending court case if the permits had been issued. “He (the Lt. Governor) has to react now to our demand. There are no deadlines, but I’m sure he gets the message that we were here and we are serious.”
Dupersoy said The National was being reshuffled and was expected to be back on stream by December. “I am trying to bring in my own printer. It is best for us (The National) to have total control and having Mr. Gildarie off-island is as strain on me,” Dupersoy said.
Voges declined to comment on the matter.
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