Churches deliver a holy blow to our neighbours UNIBAM

The United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM) received a major blow inside the courtroom of Supreme Court Justice Michelle Arana.  UNIBAM is challenging Section Fifty-Three of the criminal code, which bars carnal intercourse against the order of nature. The crime is an indictable matter with the possibility of ten years in prison.  This morning, a ruling was handed down that struck out UNIBAM as an interested party in the case. The attorneys for the Council of Churches submitted that UNIBAM has no locus standing, and therefore asked for their application to be struck out. In January, the Council of Churches’ attorney, Rodwell Williams made the arguments that some expert affidavits were given, contrary to the rules, and without the leave of the court. Outside the Supreme Court another attorney for the Council of Churches, Michel Chebat explained what the ruling means for the interested parties.

Michel Chebat, Attorney for Council of Churches
“The judge handed down her decision today and what she did was she allowed the application by the church interested parties which were twofold. The initial application was to have UNIBAM struck from the case, which was granted and secondly to have the affidavits of the purported experts filed by the claimant for those to be struck out as having not complied with the rules. And so they were both granted. However, the judge has also granted leave for them to re-file in the event they wish to do so.”

Jose Sanchez
“How significant is the fact that the UNIBAM has been struck out? What role does that play in the entire case?”

Michel Chebat
“As I said, I don’t believe it will stop the case from going forward because there is a second claimant. But in terms of—I suspect—in terms of the bigger picture and appearances, I understand UNIBAM is the umbrella organization, so it may or may not be detrimental to them. I am not sure.”

Jose Sanchez
“In terms of your case, where does it go from here? Procedurally, where do you go?”

Michel Chebat
“Our next step is to file our expert witnesses affidavits which will be done within sixty days of today’s date and then we come back to court for a case management at which time the court will set the stage going forward in terms of trial date and so forth.”

Jose Sanchez
“So in essence the victory if there is any is minimal. Would that be correct?”

Michel Chebat
“I would not say minimal. I think the fact that UNIBAM has been removed, may be a significant blow to them and to their financial support because I believe I believe it is through UNIBAM that the financial support is coming for the case. Leave has been granted to all parties to file expert evidence within sixty days.”

Jules Vasquez, 7 News
“Now all your experts except for Mister Henry Lawrence have been accepted. Am I right?”

Michel Chebat
“Yes that is correct; that is correct. All of the affidavits filed on behalf of the Church interested parties have been accepted by the Court except for Mister Lawrence’s.”

In January, attorney for UNIBAM, Lisa Shoman said that it really didn’t matter whether UNIBAM survived as an applicant, because the case would go on. She said, “I rather suspect that at this point, really doesn’t matter how the judge rules and there may very well be an appeal in either case… We’d like to get the matter before the courts; so that we have several options open and we will look at them when that arises.”

Caleb Orozco and UNIBAM issued a press release this evening on the court ruling in Orozco pretrial hearing. In the Caleb Orozco and UNIBAM versus The Attorney General of Belize litigation, the second claimant, UNIBAM was removed. Caleb Orozco, the first claimant, maintains standing under the Constitution of Belize and according to the release “will continue to pursue the case.”  The release went on to say that, “It also provided for reports to be filed by various expert witnesses on behalf of Orozco and various interested parties. It is expected that the matter will proceed to be determined on the merits once those expert reports are filed.” It went on to say that “Section 53 criminalizes consensual sexual activities between adults that amount to ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’, including between men and women. This case is focused on consensual sexual activities between adults. It does not seek to ‘decriminalize’ coerced sexual activities or pedophilia.” Orozco and UNIBAM are represented by a team of regional and local lawyers, including lead counsel Christopher Hamel-Smith, Lisa Shoman and Simeon Samson. The regional team comprises of the Faculty of Law UWI Rights Advocacy Project (URAP).