Martinellis detention time extended

EX-PANAMA PRESIDENT  Ricardo Martinelli  who has spent over three weeks  behind bars in Miami,  awaiting  an extradition  hearing  will have to spend some more time in sparse conditions far removed from his customary luxury lifestyle.

He is confined to a 6 x 11 ft cell, with no access to TV, radio,  computer or his Twitter account He gets one hour a day yard time.

Miami prosecutors Benjamin G. Greenberg and Adam S. Fels, will be out of the country on July 12 and 20  and have asked  Judge Edwin Torres who is reviewing the application for Martinelli’s extradition, to not call hearings on those dates.

The information was communicated Thursday, July 6, to the Southern District Court of Florida.

In case of a planned hearing, the  prosecutors request the Court to give at least three days’ notice

so that the American Department of Justice lawyers have the opportunity to travel from Washington, D.C., to Miami.

Martinellli has been detained since June 12, at the request of the Supreme Court of Panama which is investigating him for the illegal interception of communications through The National Security Council, during his term.

US prosecutors represent the Panamanian State in court, under the bilateral extradition treaty signed between the two countries in 1904 and several multilateral agreements to which the United States and Panama are signatories.