Dickie Bradley Applauds Court Ruling as Victory for Constitutional Rights

A powerful voice is weighing in on the recent court ruling surrounding the 2020 state of emergency. Prominent defense attorney Richard ‘Dickie’ Bradley says Justice Nadine Nabie’s decision is a win, not just for the sixteen claimants involved, but for every Belizean who values their constitutional rights. Bradley argues that even those accused of wrongdoing are entitled to legal protections, and that the public must not lose sight of the bigger picture: the rule of law. In a passionate statement, he urged those affected to seek legal redress, not just for compensation, but to help the country better understand the importance of civil liberties.

 

Dickie Bradley, Attorney-at-Law

“I beg them publicly here, please all of you that they picked up and chance you all, go find a lawyer and get a lee money off of it, because you are going to help you country to appreciate the importance of your liberty, your right to be free, your right to be protected under the law, even though in some quarters a few of you have conducted yourselves badly, they still have rights, prisoners have rights. A horse that get chopped have rights, animals have rights. I heard from one of my colleagues that there was a complaint from one of the local television this morning that these people are bad people they suppose to lock up in jail. They should not get any money. That is a wrong view of what is happening. We all have our rights. Prisoner who are sentenced in jail for a long time still have rights. You can’t put him in no hole for thirty or sixty days. These things are going on as a matter of normalcy. It is like we have no, I don’t want to call no name and blame no minister, but what is unlawful is unlawful and what is unconstitutional we must speak up. This is how a society loses its rights. The biggest reason for losing its rights is that we don’t even know what is our right.”

 

Bradley’s comments come as national conversations continue around the use and limits of emergency powers in Belize.