PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – The perseverance of Grisha Heyliger-Marten has paid off. She received the passport of her husband suspended Member of Parliament Theo Heyliger on Monday afternoon.
Heyliger-Marten was prepared to visit the Prosecutor’s Office every hour on the hour until the passport was released giving her husband the possibility of applying for a medical visa for the United States. He must apply for a visa because his ESTA was revoked.
Heyliger wants to travel to the US to seek medical care in Boston, Massachusetts, for his stage one kidney cancer. He and his wife were scheduled to do so this past weekend. The trip was cancelled when his passport was not released. He had to surrender his passport as one of the conditions for release from prison where he was awaiting trial on charges brought by the Prosecutor as of February.
The Prosecutor’s Office said it did not receive all necessary documents to allow for the release of the passport. Heyliger-Marten refused this. “We sent them everything over a week ago: where he was going, how long, which hospital and even the doctor and the appointment date. Nothing was left out,” she said.
Heyliger-Marten thanks everyone for their prayers and support in this passport ordeal. “Now, my focus is getting his health back on track and save the legal battle for after,” she said.
To the just under two dozen people who showed out to support her at the Prosecutor’s Office, Heyliger-Marten said, “I want to thank each and every one of them to standing with me at this crucial time. We need to stand together against injustice.”
