Budna’s Attorney Pushes for His Return to Belize

Attorney Arthur Saldivar says an application will soon be made to have Joseph Budna returned to Belize as his case heads to court in November.

Budna’s kidnapping happened back in August, and the investigation into his case and how he landed in the laps of Guatemalan authorities has dragged on for weeks.

According to Saldivar, the legal process will follow the International Mutual Cooperation Act.

He said, “There is an act, the International Mutual Corporation Act, that allows for it to happen. Application will be made pursuant to that act, and we see where it goes from there.”

If the request is denied, “we will see what alternative measures can be made,” he said.

He explained that Budna would stay at the Kolbe Foundation during the trial if returned.

The Association of Defence Attorneys, represented by Saldivar, has taken on the case, calling it a “major constitutional infraction.”

Saldivar pointed out the difference of how quickly surveillance footage implicating Goldburn Glenford Adolphus, locally known as “Easy Glen,” in the murder of school warden Shaniele Faber.

“That thing was widely circulated to the point where it became common knowledge who it was… it’s much the same with most other crimes of this type,” He stated.

“They have done nothing to obscure that one. And they have not done anything to suppress that one,” Saldivar added as he referred to the grainy, heavily redacted clip of Budna’s kidnapping.

Saldivar stood firm in that the surveillance footage should be released. “Once there’s a video, the video is automatically placed in a public purview so the public can assist in investigations. It’s the hallmark of community policing,” Saldviar said.

“It was incumbent upon the authorities to make the video known to the public so that people can assist in identifying who all were there… One of the questions that came invariably with this thing is, ‘Who is being protected and why?'” Saldivar added. 

Meanwhile, this week on Open Your Eyes, Attorney Richard “Dickie” Bradley also weighed in on Joseph Budna’s case and the long-awaited independent investigation.

Bradley explained what criminal accountability could look like if anyone is found guilty of involvement in the kidnapping. “Kidnapping under the Criminal Code of this country is: you can’t get less than 10 years, and you can get life imprisonment. So it’s anywhere from 10 to life,” he said.