Executions to Take Place, Official Says

Defying an international court’s order, the country’s attorney general says it will proceed with the scheduled hangings this month of five convicted killers. “The hanging is going to be carried out, and it’s going to be carried out in the month of June,” said Ramesh Maharaj. The Inter-American Court on Human Rights last week ordered the nation not to hang the five murderers and scheduled an Aug. 28 hearing for the men’s appeals. Amid rising drug-related violence, Trinidad’s stance signaled an increasing willingness in the Caribbean to cut ties with the Costa Rica-based inter-American court, run by the Organization of American States, and with the Privy Council of the British House of Lords, the final court of appeal for some former British colonies.