Seven court challenges to Martinelli pardons

CHALLENGES to pardons issued by former president Ricardo Martinelli on his last day in office continue to appear. Two constitutional challenges were filed in the Supreme Court on Friday, July 4 against two of the 15 executive decrees by which Martinelli gave 353 pardons. That bring to seven the number of challenges  so far.

Included  in the seven is an one relating to a police officer who shot and killed two children.

Attorney Rosendo Rivera filed lawsuits against the decrees 281 and 282 of
Through Decree 281, Martinelli gave a presidential pardon to 26 persons. While the decree 282 pardoned three people.
Both lawsuits, filed by Rivera with the General Secretariat of the Supreme Court, indicate that the pardons went to people accused or convicted of common and non-political crimes. The two latest lawsuits bring the total file against Martinelli’s pardons to seven.
The judges Harley Mitchell, Victor Benavides, Oyden Ortega and Harry Díaz judges are who will handle the cases.
Rivera filed an unconstitutionality warning in the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, as part of a criminal proceeding relatingto Sgt Noel Navarro of the National Police.

Navarro was sentenced to two years in prison for abuse of authority by the Ninth Court, after being accused by Rivera in 2009 of pointing a gun without justification.
In Executive Order 281, Navarro was included as one of the beneficiaries of the presidential pardon despite a pending Criminal Court hearing to resolve an appeal against conviction. The warning asks the Criminal Court not apply the pardons and send the inquiry to the Supreme Court to decide whether or not they were unconstitutional. On Friday lawyer Gregorio Villarreal presented an unconstitutional warning in court against the pardon given to police officer Adelina Perez Jordan, implicated