[Editor’s note: The State Department FOIA release of 1981 withheld the second half of this cable. The deleted portion is denoted below in red type.
[The text for this document was released in 2014 by the now-defunct Wikileaks website at https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1979GEORGE03459_e.html.]
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GEORGE 03459 051607Z
ACTION L-03
INFO OCT-01 ARA-11 ADS-00 JUS-01 FBI-03 OCS-06 CA-01 /026 W
——————100339 051736Z /47
R 031750Z AUG 79
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 0242
INFO AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE GEORGETOWN 3459
BOGOTA FOR LEGATT
DPEARTMENT PASS JUSTICE: HERGEN
E.O. 12065: NA
TAGS: CGEN, GY
SUBJC PEOPLES’ TEMPLE CIVIL LITIGATION
REF: GEORGETOWN 2114
1. (UNC) HIGH COURT JUDGE GEORGE POMPEY ON AUGUST 1 HEARD THE REQUEST OF PEOPLES’ TEMPLE LAWYER SIR LIONEL LUCKHOO THAT PROPER SERVICE BE MADE TO THE WRIT REGARDING THE GOVERNMENT’S CLAIMS ON THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE ASSESTS IN GUYANA, AS, ACCORDING TO LUCKHOO, THE WRIT HAD BEEN IMPROPERLY SERVED ON DEBORAH TOUCHETTE WHO CLAIMED TO BE A DIRECTOR OF THE TEMPLE. LUCKHOO NOTED THAT MS. TOUCHETTE IS A PLAINTIFF IN THE SUIT BEING BROUGHT BY THE PEOPLES’ TEMPLE SURVIORS AND, AT THE SAME TIME, A DEFENDANT IN THE SAME SUITE AS AN ALLEGED DIRECTOR OF THE TEMPLE. JUDGE POMPEY POSTPONED HEARING THE ACTION FOR TWO WEEKS.
2. (LOU) ACCORDING TO LUCKHOO, JUDGE POMPEY POSTPONED
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THE HEARING FOR TWO WEEKS AT THE REQUEST OF ATTORNEY REX MCKAY WHO IS REPRESENTING THE SURVIVORS, AS MCKAY ALLEGED THAT HE HAD NOT RECEIVED A COPY OF THE WRIT FILED LUCKHOO. LUCKHOO STATED, HOWEVER, THAT AFTER THE HEARING HE HAD PERSONALLY CHECKED THE OFFICIAL RECORDS, WHICH CONTAIN A RECEIPT FOR HIS WRIT SIGNED BY A MEMBER OF MCKAY’S STAFF. LUCKHOO INDICATED THAT HE BELIEVED THIS SMALL DECEIT WOULD BE A HELPFUL FACTOR IN GETTING THE SURVIVORS’ CASE THROWN OUT OF COURT WHICH WOULD PREPARE THE WAY FOR AN OUT OF COURT SETTLEMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT’S SUIT.
3. L/ARA AND MR. HERGEN (JUSTICE) MAY WISH TO CONSIDER THE ADVISABILITY OF ANOTHER VISIT TO GEORGETOWN WITHIN THE NEAR FUTURE TO MAKE A LEGAL ASSESSMENT IN ORDER TO INSURE THAT THE USG’S INTERESTES RE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE ASSETS IN GUYANA ARE BEING ADEQUATELY PROTECTED. EMBASSY IS UNINFORMED REGARDING PT PROCESSES ELSEWHERE IN WHICH USG IS INVOLVED AND THUS NOT IN A POSITION TO RELATE THE CURRENT LEGAL POSITION HERE WITHIN THE ENTIRE CONTEXT.
BURKE [U.S. Ambassador John Burke]
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