The law used to arrest former UDP Deputy Chairman Alberto August, hold him in a cell for 28 hours, and seize his phones may be unconstitutional.
Prime Minister John Briceño told reporters this morning that the Attorney General has already recommended amendments to the Cybercrime Act.
“I asked the attorney general to take a look at it, and he thinks that it is unconstitutional. So quite likely, hopefully, at the next house meeting we’ll have to make some amendments to that,” Briceño said.
August was arrested on May 30th under Section 15(4) of the Cybercrime Act following a complaint by then-Home Affairs Minister Oscar Mira. On Tuesday, the cybercrime charges against August were dropped following the decision to send the file to the Director of Public Prosecutions for an independent review, which ultimately resulted in the charges being discontinued.
Briceño openly supported the DPP’s decision and, at the same time, cautioned politicians against creating the perception that they are using the State to pursue political opponents.
“I think the public has a problem when they would feel that the minister is using the state to go after their enemies. We should not go down that road because once you go down that road, others can then take abuse of it,” Briceño said.
The PM immediately followed that statement with, “I’m not in any way suggesting that that’s what the Honourable Mira was doing. I don’t think he was doing that. I think the police really felt that there was a case.”
He added that the interim Minister of Home Affairs, Julius Espat, made the right call by immediately sending the matter to the DPP, and “She decided that there’s not a case,” he said.
Click Here For The Original Source.
