Opposition Leader Shyne Barrow says the High Court in Belize has dismissed a lawsuit brought against him by Prime Minister John Briceño, dating back to remarks made in 2019.
The claim arose out of a statement made by Barrow on Facebook in the wake of a New Year’s address that was delivered by then Opposition Leader John Briceño.
Barrow responded to a speech that Briceño had made, in which he said he had credible information of those in the United Democratic Party (UDP) being involved in landing drug planes.
Shyne, in a Facebook comment, rebutted by making certain remarks about Briceño in the context of narco planes.
Speaking at a news conference following the court ruling, the UDP leader said the trial judge dismissed the matter on the ground that his response was proportionate to the unfounded claim made by Briceño.
“I had gone to the attorney general at the time, Honorable (Michael) Peyrefitte so that we could sue him. Peyrefitte had given an ultimatum to provide the credible information that he had. He never it and I responded.
“The learned Justice Young agreed that I had the right, according to case law, to respond to his slander, to his defamation, to his accusation baseless about the UDP government who Prime Minister (Dean) Barrow happened to be the prime minister at the time. She agreed that I had proportionately responded to his accusation and that it was not defamation,” the Opposition Leader told reporters.
Barrow said the case could be looked at as one of freedom of speech.
“You could look at this for the benefit of anyone in society being able to hold any of us to account. You could look at it that the prime minister needs to be more careful in those utterances that the highest officials were landing planes. To me, this is reflective of that, because had he not said that then I would have been liable if I just came out and started attacking him,” he added.
CMC/
