Answer: The removal by force of Chief Justice Manuel Sosa, not only from his office of Chief Justice but physically from his chambers at the Supreme Court by the police, is clearly the worst case of injustice I have encountered in my 28 years of practice at the Belize Bar. Lawyers in the Caribbean region who heard of this drastic incident simply could not believe their ears.

Belize is supposed to be steeped in the traditions of the British system of justice, which respects and upholds the rule of law, and in my opinion this act of removal perpetrated by the then Attorney General, Mr. Richard Bradley (presumably with the blessing of the Prime Minister and the Government), was barbaric.

To my recollection it occurred in about January of 1999. The injury to the person of the sitting Chief Justice, Mr. Manuel Sosa, a man of undoubted and documented academic and professional distinction [a Belize Open Scholar], is incalculable. The blight on the judicial system is one that will never be erased. The seriousness of the attack on the judiciary by the Government executive was fundamental and sinister.

It is an essential plank of our democracy that the Courts and the Judiciary must be stoutly and fearlessly independent of the Executive. The people of Belize depend on the Courts and the Judiciary for the protection of their legal rights, freedom and security, and therefore this injustice was committed also against the people of Belize.

Mr. Bradley, the Attorney General, attempted to justify his actions on the grounds that the process for the appointment of Mr. Sosa as Chief Justice was flawed and unlawful. He complained that the appointment took place just before the election in 1998 and there was no consultation with the then Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Said Musa.

As a lawyer and citizen, I was at least seriously unhappy with the process for the appointment of Mr. Sosa (and this is no reflection at all on Mr. Sosa). Any consultation required by the Constitution for such an important process ought to be clear, definite, fair, genuine and entirely without any taint of suspicion.

But the appointment having been done, nothing could justify the action taken by the Attorney General and the Police. The appointment could have been put to a decision of the Courts (to be determined by another Judge) and the matter [though] controversial and painful, would have been dealt with according to law. Instead, the Attorney General conspired and engineered a coup d?etat on the judiciary and the Courts at the highest level.

Not only was this the worst injustice I have encountered but it was the saddest day of my 28-year professional career [from a professional standpoint].

Dated: December 3, 2005

Michael Young