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Tillett today held an informal press encounter at the Everyday Chinese Restaurant where he told the media of his terrifying detention and later hospitalization - which all started when he was transferred from Belize City to Belmopan.

Glenn Tillett
"They handcuffed me, ordered me into the back of a pick-up and then drove as fast as they could, or so it seems, to Belmopan. I think we left Belize City maybe 5:10 pm and by 5:50 pm we were in Belmopan. I was terrified being handcuffed and being forced to ride in the back of a pick-up truck. When we got to Belmopan officer Martinez and Officer Mark informed me that they didn't think they wanted to talk to me then, they thought that it would be better to speak to me after I spent a night in jail. They put me into a cell. The cell is probably a 8ft by 8ft cell and it contained 5 other people."

"Attorney Oswald Twist came to check on me and so when they brought me out of the cell I told him and the female sergeant in charge that I wasn't feeling well that I needed medical attention. Some of the male officers made noise of protestations, but she had me taken back to the cell and a few minutes had me transferred to the Western Regional Hospital where they found out my blood pressure had soared to 280 above 160."

"I spent the night there. Early in the morning I had a crisis situation because my blood pressure fell too low and the doctors thought I was having a seizure."

Now Tillett and his daughter have been charged for handling stolen goods - a charge which their attorney Arthur Saldivar says is bogus. They also say that there was no reason for him to be transferred to Belmopan. They explained how they arrived at those conclusions. First, on the charges being bogus.

Arthur Saldivar, Attorney
"He was not found with stolen items. Stolen items were found in the house that he occupies... we have to accurate. Possession has to be established. Possession cannot be established without knowledge. You have to know - not only that the items are there but that the items are stolen, ok? Without that, there is no possession. Then he must dishonestly retain the stolen items. From what I have been made to understand when the police came the items were given over, nobody tried to dishonestly retain, no. It must be appreciated Jules that the end of the day there was no allegation or insinuation that the incident had anything to do with what took place in Belmopan. So the offence that took place in Belmopan had nothing to do with it. No one hinted at that, no one had any information regarding that and the offence that he was charged with - handling - occurred wholly and solely, if it is to be proven, in Belize City."

Glenn Tillett
"One of the unfortunate aspects of this is that officer Martinez looked me right in the eye and says 'it is up to you to prove your innocence.' In other words he had thrown out the presumption of innocence completely. He was saying as far as he is concerned 'you are guilty until you prove your innocence' and as far as I know that is not the way the system is supposed to work."

Tillett also alleges a wider conspiracy that he was intentionally transferred to Belmopan as a means of malicious harassment and endangerment - so that something bad could happen to him.

Here's how he explained that:..

Glenn Tillett
"Nobody has given me a logical or reasonable explanation as to why I was taken to Belmopan. If it was to help the investigation then I would think that when I was brought to Belmopan somebody would have interviewed me, somebody would have questioned me, and somebody would have wanted a statement from me."

Jules Vasquez
"Your outrage should be at your nephew who deposited stolen things at your home."

Glenn Tillett
"I will agree."

Jules Vasquez
"Second, the crime was committed in Belmopan."

Glenn Tillett
"Yes but I was not in any way a part of any crime in Belmopan other than the storage of that stuff. In other words if I have committed any crime, indeed if I have handled stolen goods - that happened in Belize City. I don't know the exact legality of it and you can ask Arthur but I would think that I would have been processed there."

"I believe that as a labeled political partisan there may be people within the administration who would be delighted if something untoward should happen to me. I think what goes on at the Belmopan Police Station - the nation's police headquarters is a scandal that needs to be exposed. The young guys who I spoke to in that cell all swore to me that they were beaten, they had been shocked and they were literally there in fear. Whenever they heard somebody coming to open the door they all cringed because they believe that 'somebody is coming to take me to brutalize me - to torture me.' They said they were being shocked with electric appliances, bags were being held over their heads until they passed-out. They could show me bruises all over their body from being beaten and kicked. One of them showed me his hair coming out in clumps for being held by his hair. I make the point - a young man by the name of Daniel Tillett died in that lock-up in Belmopan, if it was not for the insistence of sergeant Joseph I too would have become a Tillett to have died in that lock-up."

Tillett says he is retiring from partisan politics….