Citizens Alliance wants complaint against judges heard by Supreme Court

THE SUPREME COURT of Justice (CSJ) must investigate complaints made public in March by ex-criminal Judge Alexis Ballesteros says executive director of the Citizens Alliance for Justice, Magaly Castillo.

Ballesteros brought criminal charges against the judges Jose Ayu Prado, Alejandro Moncada Luna, Secundino Mendieta and Wilfredo Sáenz, for making decisions to favor relatives President Ricardo Martinelli. Also included was the administrator of the Tourism Authority, Salomon Shamah.

The complaint was archived this week by the Credentials Committee of the Assembly.
The Supreme Court opened adisciplinary process into Saenz and Mendieta, after the Citizens Alliance for Justice and Corporación La Prensa sent separate notes, asking for explanations for the indications given by Ballesteros of possible acts of judicial corruption.
Saenz and Mendieta– alternates for judges Harry Diaz and Hernan De Leon judges, respectively, are judges in the Second Superior Court of Justice and therefore subordinate to the CSJ.
Castillo, who was summoned to file an affidavit on the issue , is against the disciplinary process being conducted by the Court, said on Friday June 13that allegations of criminal conduct described by Ballesteros are not mere "mistakes". "We felt that it was neither necessary nor desirable," Castillo said, referring to the citation made by the judge rapporteur Harry Diaz.
Castillo stressed that Ballesteros denounced "anti-judicial ethics behaviors." She said that while the National Assembly had filed the complaint lodged by Ballesteros, the Court should not do the same. In other words, "Don’t archive as if nothing had happened," she said
Meanwhile, the president of Corporación La Prensa and Editorial for Democracy, Luis Navarro, went to testify in the disciplinary proceedings against Saenz and Mendieta.