by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Tues. Sept. 24, 2024

As mentioned in Tuesday’s edition of Amandala, the State of Emergency (SOE) was scheduled to end this week, Tuesday, September 24, if it wasn’t extended.

The latest SOE came into effect at the end of June in response to a string of murders and shootings that were occurring in Belize City as well as in the Roaring Creek and Cotton Tree villages in the Cayo District.

Initially, the SOE was set to conclude at the end of July; however, its duration was extended to 60 days—a period that concluded on Tuesday. The Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, had told reporters prior to Tuesday that discussions were on the table to extend the SOE. However, an agreement was reportedly finalized with the detainees for the surrender of the firearms that they owned (from their homes or hiding places) and their participation in mandatory programs set to reform their lives.

An estimated 125 persons were picked up due to the SOE, with 105 being released today, while, according to some of Amandala’s sources, several other detainees were released several days before the SOE ended.

One of those persons who were released over the weekend was 36-year-old Ronlee Petillo of Belize City. Petillo had previously been acquitted of murder, and had been remanded at the Belize Central Prison on a charge of rape last year and also for being a member of a gang. He was granted bail in July of this year, but was promptly sent back to prison due to the SOE which took effect on June 24.

“The High Court granted him bail, and before he could be released by the prison, they purported to have him re-detained [and] they did not release him at all under the State of Emergency powers. A judge of the High Court said that he should be a man who should be let go on bail, and the state decided that he should not be released, even though it was an instruction from the judge that he should be released,” said OJ Elrington, Petillo’s attorney.

Elrington mentioned during a Zoom interview with the media that his client’s rights were violated by the state.

“They must be given particulars of the reason within seven days of them having been detained. That’s the first thing. Secondly, it is that the state must also publish the [names of] persons who are being detained by the state within 14 days in the Gazette. They must within 14 days provide and publish in the Gazette that this person is being detained and for under what power. Then, last but not least, it is that 30 days, within 30 days of having been detained, they must be allowed to appear before the independent tribunal, what is now being described as the SOE Tribunal, and you will know that the Tribunal was just actually formulated long after the 30 days, as it had elapsed for all of the detainees,” he said.

“There was no investigation, no evidence to support why our client was detained under the State of Emergency. So, on that very day, we got written instructions from our client to start the process of launching a constitutional claim against the government of Belize for his false imprisonment and breach of his constitutional rights,” added Elrington.

Petillo has had a number of run-ins with the law, and has been accused over the years of a range of crimes. Notably, he was charged with murder in 2006 and 2016, was acquitted in both instances; and he was acquitted of attempted murder in 2012.

In regard to whether Petillo fit the profile of the persons who were detained during the SOE because he had previously been charged with being a member of a gang, Elrington said, “They would have had their opportunity to say so at the Tribunal; and the Tribunal… they said there was no active [Tribunal] … and involving him according to the State of Emergency. That is on the record of the Tribunal; hence, why the Tribunal recommended that he should be released.”

Elrington is seeking compensation of $250,000 for false imprisonment and breach of the constitutional rights of his client by the Government of Belize, and has served GoB with a 30-day notice to make payments or further legal action will be sought.