Sebastian Pop’s Case Resurfaces After Budna Saga

It’s a story that started back in February 2023. Twenty-eight-year-old Sebastian Pop was snatched from his home in Dolores Village by a Guatemalan mob that crossed into Belize illegally. They dragged him across the border and handed him over to Guatemalan police. Pop’s family reported it to local authorities, but nothing came of it. Now, his name is back in the headlines after Joseph Budna’s return to Guatemala. On Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Pop has been convicted of femicide and is serving a thirty-year sentence. So, can Belize bring him home to serve the rest of his time? Foreign Minister Francis Fonseca says there are provisions for that, and they’re working on it.

 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs

 ”Sebastian Pop, as you know, was arrested, I think sometime in 2023 or taken in 2023. We are looking into that again. It is, in my view, a very tragic case. Pop is accused of very, very serious crimes, and in fact has been convicted of very serious crimes as Mr. Budna. We have to remember in the case of Budna, Mr. Budna is an escaped prisoner from Guatemala who has been to court and has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. In the case of Mr. Pop, he has similarly been convicted on the basis of DNA evidence of committing femicide. He, based on our understanding, was taken really by a mob as we understand it. I think Dolores, or Othoxa Village, the Alcalde of that village, I think fairing for his own safety, our understanding, handed him over to this mob really. This mob who were saying that he had killed, raped, and killed their daughter. So, we’re following up on that again. The embassy in Guatemala is looking into the matter. We are looking at two things, whether we can appeal against his case, that we believe there are certain grounds that we can look at  in terms of an appeal and get him support for that appeal. But we’re also looking at the issue of repatriation. There is a provision under the confidence building measures that allows for that sort of exchange. It has never been used before, never been implemented. But we are looking into that issue. I’ve instructed our ambassador in Guatemala to pursue that issue with the Guatemala authorities.”

.https://www.greaterbelize.com/belize-monitors-case-of-abducted-national-convicted-in-guatemala/