A judge has dismissed a discrimination case launched by former premier Ewart Brown over a criminal investigation against him.

In a judgment handed down yesterday, Acting Puisne Judge Martin Forde dismissed the case filed by Dr Brown against the Deputy Governor, the Attorney-General and the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The former premier had sought declarations from the Supreme Court that the activities of the Strategic Oversight Group — a committee of high-ranking officials including the DPP and Deputy Governor set up in 2014 — were unconstitutional and unlawful because they breached his constitutional and common-law rights.

The respondents called for the case to be struck out as frivolous, arguing that there was no evidence of discrimination against Dr Brown or that the DPP was improperly involved in the investigation.

Mr Justice Forde found that while Dr Brown genuinely felt that he had been targeted because of his decision in 2009 to bring four Uighurs to Bermuda from the US prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, he had not identified evidence that the oversight group influenced the decision to prosecute him.

“I have no doubt that Dr Brown will always believe that there was a political motivation for the decision to prosecute him, but on a fair and objective reading of the papers, I could find no smoking gun,” he said.

Mr Justice Forde added that it was not challenged that the DPP, Cindy Clarke, did not base her decision to prosecute on the records or communications of the oversight group, and that those materials were not available to her.

However, the judge also dismissed a strikeout application by the respondents for abuse of process, stating that the case had substance, and that Dr Brown and his counsel believed that it was genuinely arguable.

“The case had substance, in my view,” he said. “The fact that I did not accede to the applicant’s application does not mean that the case was egregious in terms of the applications being made, nor did I find it was a breach of procedure.”

Mr Justice Forde did not make any order of costs in connection with the case.

The judge apologised to the parties for the delay between when the case was heard in the autumn of 2023 and when the judgment was delivered.

He told the parties that he had originally intended to deliver the decision in early spring last year, but suffered a fall and found that his injuries made it difficult for him to review the document-heavy case.

Jerome Lynch KC, for Dr Brown, told the court that he would discuss a potential appeal against the ruling with his client, but was also considering launching an abuse-of-process application over the delay.

The court heard that the criminal matter against Dr Brown is expected to be mentioned in the Supreme Court next month, with a trial date earmarked for September 2026.

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