…reveals plan to appeal 1983 convictionDonald Rodney, the lone eyewitness and brother of Walter Rodney,Cheap Jerseys From China, the slain Working People’s Alliance (WPA) leader, yesterday told the Commission of Inquiry that while having a walkie-talkie in those days was a risk, interacting with it with a former army member was an activity “that could attract death from the dictatorship.”Late Political Activist, Walter RodneyMore than 34 years later, Dr. Walter Rodney’s brother ended his testimony before a Commission of Inquiry, that on the fateful night they were uplifting a walkie-talkie from alleged assassin Gregory Smith and not explosives.Donald, the politician’s younger brother, testified that he had not parked his car in front of Smith’s house as they did the “pickup” because of the situations which prevailed in the country at the time.The witness had been with Dr. Rodney when a walkie-talkie exploded in the latter’s lap in the vicinity of the Camp Street Prison killing him. Donald Rodney was charged and sentenced to serve 18 months for the explosive.Yesterday, he told Commissioners that his conviction in 1983 for the said explosive was unlawful and he intends to appeal it. While on bail pending the appeal, he left the country.Part of the Commission’s task is to ascertain the situation in the country during the period under review (1978 – 1980)Attorney-at-Law Basil Williams who,China NFL Jerseys, is representing the interest of the People’s National Congress (PNC), questioned Rodney about earlier statements that the then Prime Minister, Linden Forbes Burnham at the party’s Third Biennial Congress in 1979 had said that “the WPA must make their wills.”This Rodney had earlier testified that he heard this during a radio broadcast. Questioned by Williams that the statement said “they” and not the WPA, he maintained that he and virtually everyone in Guyana had indeed heard that being said by the Leader since it was broadcast by two radio stations.Williams argued that the record is not showing that the PM at any point said the WPA. “He cannot sully the record of the PNC.”Also, the lawyer directed him to his earlier testimony in January where he had said that Walter asked him to use his passport in 1980 and he gave it to him. The witness recalled saying that his brother had subsequently returned the passport.Williams asked whether it was lawful to hand his passport for another man to travel and the witness said, “It is illegal but legitimate.”Asked whether he was agreeing to participate in something that was illegal, the surviving Rodney said, “I was taking part in an enterprise that was legitimate against the dictatorship.”“Didn’t you think it was immoral? That it was immorally wrong?” the lawyer probed but Rodney held that it was legitimate.Williams asked if that was his approach to life at that point, to which the witness said it was his response to the circumstances to the country at the time where they were facing “a bigger illegality.”“Since you believe that you could, with impunity,Wholesale Jerseys From China, breach the law of the land and decide it’s legitimate, you agree that we really can’t believe anything that you say?” the lawyer asked. But Rodney said he spoke the truth, yet it was “up to you to decide whether you believe or not.”The lawyer probed too whether the witness believed it was possible that his brother and the former Sergeant had talks unbeknownst to him about the said walkie-talkie. “It is very much possible,” Donald Rodney said.Williams asked if it was that Walter Rodney and Gregory Smith had their own agreements on the device, that the former Sergeant was surprised when the younger Rodney had shown up at Smith’s house on June 13, 1980 to uplift the device that night.“I’m putting it to you, because you turned up and he (Walter Rodney) remained in the car, he (Gregory Smith) accompanied you back to the car so that he could explain instructions to Walter himself.”But Donald Rodney said that Smith had not accompanied him to the car.Continuing, Williams asked him if he left Guyana through illegal channels but he said no. “I was not making myself unavailable to the judicial process to the country…I am here now.”Williams asked whether he had any qualms about being a fugitive from justice but the witness said he believed he was a “fugitive from injustice.” Under question about the morality of his choice, Donald Rodney said that he saw nothing wrong with “leaving injustice.”“If you felt that you were innocent, why would you think that was injustice?” Williams asked. He said “Well I am innocent and I am not a convict.”“You operated like a guilty man by fleeing…just like how you fled the scene that night,” Williams said. The witness debunked that claim. The lawyer suggested to the surviving Rodney that h