Justice for Kris and Marita Maharaj
Donation protected
Hi everyone,
I’m asking for donations for a Swimrun that I’m taking part in to raise funds for a case that I’ve been volunteering on, which I believe to be one of the worst miscarriages of justice I have encountered. More details of the event and the history of Swimrun can be found here:
https://otilloswimrun.com/about/#:~:text=%C3%96TILL%C3%96%20was%20born&text=This%20was%20the%20first%20recorded,of%20the%20sport%20of%20Swimrun.
It’s 22.6km total distance with approximately 17.9km of running and 4.7km of sea swimming over 13 stages. The run and the swim are done in wetsuit and running shoes, and in the Cornish sea, which makes it quite hard!
So what’s the case about?
British citizen Kris Maharaj has spent almost 38 years in prison for a double murder that took place in Miami on 16 October 1986. These unbelievable facts apply to Kris's case:
Not one of Kris’s 6 alibi witnesses was called during his original trial.
The first judge in Kris’s case solicited a bribe in exchange for setting him free. Kris spurned this and reported the attempt. The judge was then arrested on the third day of the trial when a law enforcement officer posing as a Colombian cartel member offered a bribe in exchange for bail.
Five members of the Medellin cartel have given statements that they, not Kris, were responsible for the murders.
Even after a federal judge made a legal finding in 2019 that Kris had proven his innocence by “clear and convincing evidence” and that “no reasonable juror could convict him”, Kris remains in prison.
These facts, and others about the case, seem impossible to believe but, unfortunately, they are real. More information about Kris’ case can be found online, including the following:
https://news.sky.com/story/this-man-has-been-in-prison-for-33-years-a-judge-says-hes-innocent-but-hes-still-locked-up-12012697
Now aged 85, Kris doesn’t have much time left.
Clive Stafford-Smith has represented him since 1993. I’ve been volunteering with Clive on the case, supporting his work with Kris and his wife Marita (at zero cost to them) – we brought Marita back to the UK on Easter Sunday, after 38 years of staying illegally to be near Kris in Florida.
After 15 years on death row, Kris was re-sentenced to life. imprisonment: another kind of death sentence, as he is not eligible for parole until he is 101.
Kris remains in a Florida state prison – in poor health, desperate to reunite with his loyal wife Marita and return home to the UK.
I am raising funds to cover the following three things:
-The living costs of Kris’s wife Marita, who is also in her 80s and has stood by her husband all this time.
-Direct costs such as Clive’s travel to visit Kris in prison.
-Clive’s time working on the pending application on behalf of Kris for compassionate medical release and prisoner transfer to the UK.
All donations via this page will go to Justice League CIC (run by Clive Stafford-Smith) and used specifically for Kris and Marita's case. Please donate today (and share this story) to show Kris and Marita that they are not forgotten, after all these years fighting side by side against this appalling miscarriage of justice. You can add words of support to the page when you receive a donation receipt.
At the end of our visit with Kris in prison in March, Kris said this to me:
Get me home to England before they kill me. But if for some reason they kill me in this prison, make sure the world knows. Make sure that people benefit from what happened to me and they don’t ever do anything like this to anyone else again.
I promised him that I would do this, so if you are unable to make a donation, please consider sharing the details of the case.
Thank you for reading and any help you can give!
James
Organizer
James Craig
Organizer
England