After spending 14 years in incarceration, Jamaican dancehall artist Vybez Kartel has been freed.
Kartel is one of Jamaica’s most popular musicians of the 21st century whose music marked a high point in the global exportation of dancehall.
On Wednesday, Vybez Kartel became a free man again after he walked out of prison alongside his other three co-defendants.
The Jamaican music star has been in jail since 2011 over the murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams for which they were found guilty by the Jury in a Jamaican court.
Vybez Kartel’s lawyers have for years argued that his conviction was based on circumstantial evidence on messages exchanged over his Blackberry phone with a discredited witness.
After nearly a decade of a protracted legal battle, the case went up to the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council which gave the Jamaican Court of Appeal the option of declaring a retrial or acquitting the suspects.
The Jamaican Court of Appeal ultimately decided to draw the curtain on the case as they believed Vybez Kartel was not in a position to serve whatever lengthy sentence that might be issued from a retrial considering the musician’s fast deteriorating health condition.
The news of Kartel’s release has been met with jubilation by fans of the musician who continued to release music even while incarcerated.
At the height of his powers, Vybez Kartel’s fame spread beyond the shores of the Caribbean with his music marking a high point in the global exportation of dancehall.
While in prison, Vybez Kartel featured Nigerian superstar Wizkid in 2017 on the single ‘Wine To The Top’.
