Call to declare no-show Martinelli in default
A SUPREME COURT judge, serving as prosecutor in a trial of Ricardo Martinelli, requested that the former Panama president be declared “in default” for failing to appear at a hearing on Wednesday May 10.
Judge Abel Zamorano made the request in the trial of Martinelli for the 353 pardons he granted in 2014, many of them for criminal offences.
iJudge José Ayú Prado, in his role as judge in the case, indicated that Martinelli who left Panama on Jan. 28, 2015 was duly notified, according to the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Sidney Sittón, Martinelli’s lawyer, announced that he will present a warning of unconstitutionality in the case.
Ayú Prado turned down Zamorano’s request and the case was adjourned until June 14.
The Judicial Office of the Supreme Court is in charge of notifying defendants of hearings. On April 26, it was announced that the CSJ, through the Judicial Office, issued a notice of the
hearing in the newspapers The Miami Herald and El Diario de las Américas. Martinelli is known to be living in Miami.
The complaint is based on pardons granted by Martinelli hours before he left office.
