THE Office of the Attorney General’s Criminal Division has declined to prosecute Edwin Raymond Quitugua for a flag-burning incident on April 3, 2024, the Department of Public Safety said.
Quitugua, a Chamorro activist, burned a CNMI flag that he owned and live streamed the event on social media. The flag’s design includes a multi-colored mwaar or floral wreath representing Carolinians. For Quitugua, however, the only “true indigenous people” of the Northern Marianas are Chamorros.
In a statement on Tuesday, the DPS public information officer, Police Sgt. Fred Sato, said, “DPS-Criminal Investigation Bureau forwarded the case (DPS Case No. 24-002268) to the OAG-Criminal Division on April 11th. We received the notice yesterday, April 29 that they will not seek prosecution.”
“The decision was made based on the facts and circumstances surrounding the incident,” Sato added.
Many community members were dismayed by the flag-burning incident by the activist and have called for Quitugua’s prosecution. Some community members also said that Quitugua has been raising issues that have already been resolved.
CNMI law prohibits destroying or damaging the Commonwealth flag. But in the U.S., the Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. Johnson (1989) that flag-burning constitutes symbolic speech safeguarded by the First Amendment, and affirmed the right to engage in this form of expression as a protected constitutional right.
