GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) - Guyana's parliament has decided that the Caribbean Court of Justice will be the nation's highest appellate court when it opens next year.

The bill was passed Thursday night, with 57 of 65 lawmakers voting for the Trinidad-based court to replace the Guyana Court of Appeal as the South American country's highest appellate court.
But cases already ruled on by the Guyana court cannot be appealed to the new regional court, Attorney General Doodnauth Singh said.
The former British colony's Court of Appeal was established to replace Britain's Privy Council when Guyana gained independence in 1970.

The Caribbean Court of Justice will soon replace the London-based Privy Council, which has been hearing appeals for most English-speaking countries in the region for more than 170 years. Guyana was the lone exception in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Two other members of the 15-nation Caribbean Community, Dutch-speaking Suriname and French- and Creole-speaking Haiti, have also been outside the Privy Council's jurisdiction.

The Caribbean court's advocates say it will bolster sovereignty in the region by shedding the colonial-era Privy Council.

Human rights groups have warned that the regional court could open the door for governments to resume executions, something the Privy Council has blocked in recent years.

The Caribbean Court of Justice will also arbitrate in trade disputes arising from within the single Caribbean Community trade market scheduled to begin in January.

The regional court was due to open November 6, but was postponed until March because several Caribbean countries needed time to recover from damage caused by Hurricane Ivan two months ago.

Hurricane Ivan tore through the Caribbean in September, killing nearly 70 people in the region. Grenada was especially hard-hit with 39 deaths and 90 per cent of homes damaged or destroyed.

Another factor in the postponement was that five judges selected to sit on the court have to terminate their existing contracts before they can move to the Caribbean Court of Justice.

In August, Trinidad's former chief justice Michael de la Bastide was sworn in as the court's first president.
Caribbean leaders are scheduled to meet in Trinidad on Monday to set an exact date for the opening.

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