A former president of Guyana was released on bail after formally being charged with inciting racial hatred ahead of general elections.
Bharrat Jagdeo was not required to enter a plea at the yesterday's court hearing before a magistrate in the southeastern Berbice region of the South American country. He led Guyana from 1999 to 2011.
The accusations against Jagdeo are linked to comments he allegedly made during campaigning for the political party he once led ahead of May 11 general elections.
The former president allegedly said Afro-Guyanese opposition activists were "beating drums" while urging citizens to throw out "coolie" members of the People's Progressive Party dominated by people of Indian descent, like Jagdeo.
Opposition lawyer Christopher Ram pursued the case against Jagdeo, who is due back in court in June for preliminary hearings.
A multiethnic coalition led by retired army general David Granger defeated incumbent President Donald Ramotar and his People's Progressive Party in the vote earlier this month in Guyana, a country of nearly 750,000 made up mainly of people of Indian and African descent.
Granger, who formally took power in recent days and installed his Cabinet, has pledged to end racial divisions that have long marked politics in the small country on the north shoulder of South America.
