Panton Repeats Call for Accountability on Budna Abduction

The Ryan Budna controversy is back in the spotlight, this time because Prime Minister John Briceño has hinted that government is exploring a prisoner‑transfer deal with Guatemala so Budna can serve the rest of his sentence here at home. But tonight, Opposition Leader Tracy Panton is pushing back hard. She says bringing Budna back to Belize cannot replace the deeper issue, accountability. According to Panton, what happened to Budna amounts to a state‑sanctioned violation of his constitutional rights, and she argues that Belizeans deserve to know who ordered the operation and why no one has been held responsible. In her view, the country doesn’t need political cleanup, it needs answers. Here’s more from the Opposition Leader.

 

Tracy Panton, Leader of the Opposition

“ The Belizean people need to know what transpired on the night Mr. Budna was beaten. Mr. Budna was detained. Mr. Budna was transferred, transported across this country and Mr. Budna was handed into the hands of hostile territory without any due process. His constitutional rights were violated. It is the responsibility of a government to ensure that the constitutional rights and freedoms and liberties of all Belizean citizens are protected and safeguarded. And the allegation is that these activities hand were handled by state actors and so it is imperative that whoever may be responsible for giving the orders or whoever is responsible for executing such orders, be held to a account. I think that if it can happen to Joseph Budna it can happen to every Belizean and that is what makes it so egregious, and that is why we can’t remain quiet on this issue.”

 

Panton says the Budna case isn’t about a transfer deal at all, but about uncovering who gave the orders and ensuring no Belizean ever faces that kind of rights violation again.

 

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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