(Kaieteur News) – Heads of Judiciary from across the Caribbean have issued a joint statement rallying behind the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) amid an escalating internal crisis, even as they voiced grave concern over leaked confidential correspondence that exposed deep divisions among the court’s judges.

The statement, issued by the heads of the judiciary of Barbados, The Bahamas, Belize, Guyana, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, comes days after leaked internal emails revealed that five of the CCJ’s six sitting judges accused president Justice Winston Anderson of “dictatorial” leadership, panel manipulation and attempts to influence the outcome of judicial deliberations.

In their statement, the regional judiciary heads stressed that the CCJ “occupies a position of profound importance as a regional institution and within the regional judicial architecture,” noting that it serves as the final court of appeal for states that have acceded to its appellate jurisdiction, and as the court of original jurisdiction for matters arising under the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas for most CARICOM states.