Extradition order for spy chief hiding in Panama, on hold

COLOMBIA’S Supreme Court of has put a hold on moves for the extradition of the former head of the country’s intelligence services María Pilar Hurtado , who was granted asylum in Panama in November 2010.

The decision to reject the application would halt temporarily the intention of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to ask the new president of Panama , Juan Carlos Varela , who will take office on July 1, to extradite Hurtado , former head of the DAS , according to El Tiempo in Colombia .

After reading the application that was sent by the Ministry of Justice , the Court of Colombia did not approve the extradition request According to the Court, the extradition request should not have been made by the second congressional committee through the Ministry of Justice but by the prosecution, according to the newspaper report .
The formal request for the Court is an indispensable process to insist on the extradition requirement which is done through foreign ministries, after the decision by the competent judicial authority.
Earlier, Panama’s outgoing president of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, in Madrid, Spain, he would let his successor Varela decide on any application for Colombia for the extradition of the former head of the Colombian intelligence services. "It will be up to the next government to decide what to do with it," Martinelli said, according to the EFE news agency
Hurtado is wanted in Colombia for a wiretapping scandal involving judges, journalists and opposition politicians, among others, during the government of Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010).