Bladen 12 Trial Continues Amid Allegations of Police Brutality

The Bladen 12 were back in court today for the continuation of their trial. The group is accused of facilitating the landing of a drug plane in southern Belize back in 2021. Today’s proceedings were in a voir dire, a trial within a trial so specific details cannot be reported on. Outside the court attorney Leroy Banner explained that he is challenging the caution statement his client gave to police because the officers beat him into confessing to a crime. 

Leroy Banner, Attorney: “Now we are saying that our client was assaulted in custody before he gave certain statements. The police are saying that they prepared a prisoner’s custody form and that form should contain details and one of the important details is that the condition the person was in when he was detained and that is for our case because we want to show that okay what condition he was in when he was being detained by the police. These things are live, some days it may take longer some days it might be quick so I can’t say exactly how many more days we have but it’s just one day at a time. Right now it is the voir dire it’s a bit technical so this might take a bit longer but the main case might move a bit quicker because we will be agreeing to about thirty to forty witnesses. So we don’t have much contention in the main trial.”

Banner says that he is uncertain how much longer the voir dire will last, as he is unsure of the number of witnesses the prosecution has left to call. The case was adjourned until Monday, February 19. The men are charged with two counts of possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply, one count of conspiracy to land a plane at an unlicensed aerodrome, and one count of abetment of the importation of a controlled drug.