Over half dictatorship disappearance cases dismissed
OVER HALF of 81 cases of “disappeared” people during Panama’s military dictatorship and submitted to courts have been dismissed.
This was outlined in a report from First Superior Prosecutor to the Committee of Families of the Disappeared, represented by Hector Gallego.
According to the report, 47 of the 81 cases analyzed by the prosecutor have been dismissed.
First Superior Prosecutor Geomara de Jones revealed that the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences will begin this week comparing DNA samples from about 60 bones resting in that entity with the biological samples from relatives of the victims.
Jones said that this will allow the re-opening of some of the cases.
In 2015 Panama appointed a prosecutor to look into the 81 outstanding cases from the military dictatorship in which people went missing.
Jones said there is not enough evidence in about 35 of the cases to present to a court.
Jones said that, last October, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) heard a complaint against Panama’s judicial system for failing to address the cases. The complaint was filed by Gallego.
Jones said that each of the cases that were dismissed is being reviewed to see if they can be re-opened.
