ROSEAU, Dominica- A former senator with the opposition United Workers Party (UWP), Dr. Thomson Fontaine was arrested when he arrived at the Melville Hall Airport in Dominica Sunday morning.
Fontaine, a former IMF economist who, for the past four years, has been employed as Economic and International Policy Adviser to the government of South Sudan, Africa, was arrested by the police who were executing a bench warrant issued for his arrest in 2018.
The warrant stems from Fontaine’s absence for two court appearances in 2018 after obstruction charges were brought against him, along with opposition leader Lennox Linton, Joshua Francis and Joseph Isaac.
The obstruction charges were then adjourned sine die, and another hearing against Linton and Fontaine, was scheduled for January 22, 2019.
But because of Fontaine’s previous absences, the presiding magistrate granted the prosecution’s request for a bench warrant for Fontaine who was not present at the hearings.
The consequence of a Bench Warrant for someone out of state is immediate arrest at the port of entry upon the offender’s return. Therefore, Dr Fontaine was quite aware that he would be arrested at the airport the minute he dared to return to Dominica.
Based on this, Fontaine was arrested upon his return after more than four years.
Dr. Thomson Fontaine has published several research papers in the field of economics and is the editor and founder of the online newsmagazine TheDominican.net. He hosted a local weekly radio program on Q95 in Dominica called ‘Lifeline’, which highlights the history and current economic situation in Dominica. He currently serves in the position of RJMEC Deputy Chief of Staff – Strategy, in Juba, South Sudan; an organization that monitors the peace process in South Sudan. Previously, he served as an opposition Senator in the Dominica Parliament, and an economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, DC, as well as a university lecturer in the United States.
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