CCJ to Deliver Decision in Maurice Tomlinson Case

The Caribbean Court of Justice is set to hand down a decision in a highly publicized case involving outspoken Jamaican gay rights activist Maurice Tomlinson and the State of Trinidad and Tobago.  Belize is also a party to the claim brought by Tomlinson who asserts that his right to move freely within the CARICOM member states has been impeded by their existing laws.  That judgment will be delivered June tenth by video conference.  Meanwhile, another case, this one lodged at the Supreme Court of Belize, continues to languish with no decision in sight. In the wake of the announcement of the pending C.C.J. decision, Caleb Orozco, Executive Director of United Belize Advocacy Movement, UNIBAM, issued a release on his own case.  Orozco has filed a constitutional challenge to have repealed Section Fifty-three of Belize’s Criminal Code. He says (quote) the Constitution of Belize does not state expressly a timeline for completion of judgments, but there are certain constitutional principles which guard the public in respect of excessive delays in the delivery of judgments. So much for those principles (unquote). The challenge to Section Fifty-three was heard in 2013 and to date there has been no judgment or date for the delivery of that decision.