Prime Minster of Grenada, Dr. Keith Mitchell. - Norman Grindley/ Deputy Chief Photographer

ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada (CMC):

Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell says he has asked the United States to provide information on the whereabouts of the bodies of former Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and other members of his Cabinet who were killed during a palace coup in Grenada in 1983.

A government statement issued here yesterday, said that Mitchell had made the request during discussions with US State Department officials over the weekend.

Mitchell was among Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders who held a one-day summit with President George W. Bush and also participated in a three-day conference on the Caribbean that ended in Washington last Thursday.

Severely scarred

"Prime Minister Mitchell told State Department Officials that the families of the late Prime Minister Bishop, and his Cabinet colleagues are still severely scarred by the events which took place in October 1983," the statement said.

"It is important that the bodies be found so that the families can find closure and so that they can begin to heal," Mitchell is quoted as saying.

The statement also stated that "Prime Minister Mitchell also noted that with the re-sentencing trial currently taking place, affected persons were being subjected once more to the memories of the tragic events and said he was concerned about the psychological state of the families.

"U.S. Officials promised to look into the matter once more, but re-stated their position that they had no information on the bodies," the statement said.

Former deputy prime minister Bernard Coard is among 13 persons convicted of murdering Bishop and other members of his cabinet during the 1983 incident.

Life imprisonment

Earlier this year the Privy Council ruled that the death sentences originally imposed on them were unconstitutional and that this also invalidated the process by which those sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment.

A specially constituted court is now determining what sentences to impose on the convicted men.