Repeating Islands

The Associate Press reports that Bernard Coard and six other men responsible for the killings of Grenada’s Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and six other men were scheduled to be freed as early as this past Saturday after serving nearly three decades in prison. The men are the last of the “Grenada 17″ still in prison for the killings of Bishop, four Cabinet ministers, and six supporters on Oct. 19, 1983.

Extremists in Bishop’s leftist party ordered soldiers to kill him because they felt he was too moderate. Nearly a week later, U.S. troops seized control of the Caribbean island, with President Reagan saying he ordered the invasion to protect American medical students and end Grenada’s alliance with Cuba. Those convicted in Bishop’s slaying were originally given the death penalty, but the London-based Privy Council, the highest court of appeal for the island, threw out the sentences in February 2007. At the resentencing, a judge said the prisoners showed remorse and sentenced them to two more years in prison.

Coard and the six others being let go were due to be released by the end of this year or early 2010. However, a panel that reviews prisoner issues, including the conduct of inmates serving lengthy sentences, recommended they be freed this month. Karl Hood, chairman of the review board, issued a statement Friday saying Coard and the six others — Dave Bartholomew, Callistus Bernard, Leon Cornwall, Liam James, Ewart Layne and Selwyn Strachan — would be released as soon as Saturday. Ten others convicted in the killings, including Coard’s wife, were previously released.

The bodies of Bishop and 10 men killed with him have never been found.