Martinelli grants first 16 pardons
PRESIDENT Ricardo Martinelli, granted 16 oficial pardons and reduced sentences,including several journalists, politicians and lawyers on Wednesday, June 25,
iAmong the names appearing in the Official Gazette are: Rogelio Alba Filos (former deputy), Ricardo Weeks (now secretary of Etnia Negra), Paul Thayer Durling, Erasmo Pinilla Castillero (presiding judge of the Electoral Court), Hector Rojas, Xiomara Fernandez, Robert Sealy, Thomas Lara, Eustace Fabrega (former director of the Civil Aviation Authority), lawyer and journalist Justino González, Alfredo Muñoz Finch, Lionel Antonio Aparicio, Manuel Antonio Dominguez, Katherine Melara Cuesta, Luis Enrique Perez and Varela Adelys.
In addition, a reduction of penalty for Javier Gil Smith Vallarino.
Martinelli announced earlier this week that would pardon, mostly journalists, politicians and people who “have been unjustly accused without any judgment and without any appreciation.”
The granting of pardons has become a tradition for outgoing presidents. And, in 1994, former President Guillermo Endara (1989-1994) granted 542 pardons; in 1999, Ernesto Perez Balladares (1994-1999) gave 390 pardons, and in 2004, Mireya Moscoso (1999-2004) granted releases to 183 prisoners.
The Constitution, in Article 184, on the powers of the President can decree stipulates that pardons, reduce penalties and granting parole to prisoners who committed criminal offenses.
