Court Says ‘Answer the Questions’ in Budna’s Abduction Case  

The Government of Belize is gearing up for another legal battle after a High Court judge allowed a constitutional claim tied to an alleged cross-border abduction to move forward. The case, brought by inmate Joseph Budna, claims he was unlawfully taken into custody in a cross-border operation. Justice Martha Alexander ruled that the matter can’t be dismissed, calling it a live issue that demands answers. Attorney General Anthony Sylvestre says the state is preparing its defense but may also consider mediation or a court-led settlement before heading to trial.

 

Anthony Sylvestre, Attorney General

“We are still in the process of that. I believe yesterday there was a case management conference in terms of the time for filing with the statements and other court documents. I don’t recall the timelines offhand, but suffice it to say, we are still in the process. And what I should point out to the Belizean populus that as part of the court process, there are two very key or very important mechanisms that the court utilize. They utilize a mediation mechanism where they encourage parties to say, “Look, try to discuss and see if you could arrive at some resolution.” They also use a mechanism known as a judicial settlement conference. That one, in my view, has much more usefulness because what it does, it allows the parties to have a senior attorney, a senior counsel explain to them and say, “Look, you filed this constitutional claim. You filed this claim. You’re asking for XYZ. You filed your defense, and you are saying XYZ, but you both of you really may need to really rethink your  position.” So as part of that process, which comes a little ways on, we will be in a better position to know where we go with respect to that matter.”

 

Reporter

“If you guys choose to go to trial, is it because the state is taking responsibility for what has all appearances of a high level cover-up? If you choose to settle.”

 

Anthony Sylvestre

“If we don’t go to trial. No, I would not say that. I just explained, the position with respect to what happens in court proceedings, it’s not necessarily a matter of based only on facts, but also based on the law. It is that the court may say, “But listen, say as what you may say, but these persons were police officers, and so you can’t escape.” We don’t think that is the state of the law at this point in time, but we’ll have an opportunity to explore that a little later.”

 

Notably, the claims against five applicants were struck out, this includes claims against the Minister of Home Affairs and the Commissioner of Police.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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