It has been 4 years and and 4 months since the Gang Suppression Unit conducted a raid on the Menjivar family home just outside of Belmopan. Viewers will remember that in that operation, police fired over a hundred bullets at the house after the Miguel Mejivar, fired at them first. He has maintained that he did so because he was convinced that heavily armed and organized thieves were trying to breech his family's home. 2 years ago, the state tried him in the Supreme Court for 9 counts of attempted murder, and he was acquitted.
So, since the court has found him innocent, Menjivar and his attorneys have been suing the government for compensation and damages. 4 months ago, his attorney filed the lawsuit against the Attorney General, the Commissioner of Police, and Sergeant Santiago Gongora, who was the officer in charge of that pre-dawn raid.
Today, all the parties showed up to court before Justice Michelle Arana for a case management conference which was held in the judge's chambers. The attorney representing the Government has indicated that they intend to make objections the grounds of the case, and the judge has given them time to do that. That concluded a very short session, and when Menjivar and his attorney exited the court, they granted the awaiting press an interview. Here's what they had to say:
Arthur Saldivar, Attorney for Miguel Mejivar
"The Attorney General is the first named individual as it is the Attorney General who answers all legal matters coming against the government of Belize. A part from that, the person who headed the unit at the time of the raid was also named and the person who is responsible overall for the police department, the Commissioner. So those are the people who are there. Obviously in relation to the person having responsibility for what took place on that fateful morning, it would be the office in charged, Santiago Gongora, who is the man in the hot seat, so to speak."
Miguel Mejivar
"Everything is messed up. It's not the regular life that we use to live before. Everything is destroyed there. But they do not worry about their mistakes."
Mike Rudon, Ch5
"It must be frustrating to have to keep coming back to court and getting nowhere."
Miguel Mejivar
"Exactly that's what happened."
Mike Rudon, Ch5
"But you will pursue it?"
Miguel Mejivar
"I don't have a choice. I have to be there. I have to be here, because I don't know how things really work, but as soon as this incident happened, it was easy to find out that they were wrong in every way. They were supposed to have approached this quick and not wait for years. Send somebody and tell us that our force did wrong blah, blah and we wanted to fix this thing out of court. Nobody showed up to say sorry and nobody showed up to say anything. So it just passed like everything is okay. But nothing is okay with us. We are suffering there."
Arthur Saldivar, Attorney for Miguel Mejivar
"When you have 156 bullets lodge in a residential place, with children inside. That is no laughing matter. That is nothing to sneeze at. That is a very serious breach of the right of a citizen. So one would have expected and certainly in a more develop and transparent country with a more transparent system, such a breech would warrant those in power to say listen, we understand that wrong was done and we will come forward and so what is necessary to make it right by you, because the converse could have happened where a person could have lost their lives in a unlawful raid on a home where nobody inside were doing anything wrong. And that's the tragedy of this whole situation."
The case returns to court on October 26.
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