Judge asks Interpol Red Alert for Martinelli

SUPREME COURT  Judge Harry Diaz has called for an Interpol Red Alert for absconding  ex-president Ricardo Martinelli.

On Friday June 24  as prosecutor,  he sent a note to the Judge of Guarantees Jerome Mejia-that he  intends to proceed with other extradition mechanisms for  Martinelli  in addition to those  currently before the Foreign Ministry and request a “red alert” to locate and arrest the president, with the help of Interpol.

Martinelli left Panama on January 28, 2015 and has never personally appeared at hearings conducted by the Supreme Court for several complaints against him. His lawyers have said that he is domiciled in a luxury beachfront condo on Brickell Avenue, Miami, United States.

The plenum of the Supreme Court ordered the preventive detention of Martinelli on December 21, after Mejia declared him “in absentia” for failing to appear at a hearing.

On October 9, 2015, Diaz filed a notice of indictment against the Martinelli for the alleged commission of the crimes of inviolability of secrecy and the right to privacy and against public administration (embezzlement).

A  a  Copa America match  in Chicago, Martinelli told reporters that the extradition request was “pure bullshit”.