Supreme Court rejects Martinelli challenge

THE PLENARY of Panama’s Supreme Court (CSJ) “rejected outright”  a challenge by the lawyers of ex-President Ricardo Martinelli, to set aside three magistrates appointed to resolve to a habeas corpus presented in the process followed after he granted  355 pardons hours before he left office in June 2014. The pardons included many for criminal violations, by party insiders, which have been declared unconstitutional.

At the hearing before the plenary session on Monday, December 11 the defense was represented by Carlos Carrillo and Sidney Sitton, who also request the suspension of the criminal action and leave without effect the arrest warrant for the ex-ruler, dictated in October by Judge José Ayú Prado, acting as judge of guarantees.

Martinelli, who has a large team of lawyers to assist him in defending multiple corruption investigations, will complete his sixth month in a Miami, Florida, prison, on Tuesday, December 12. He is awaiting extradition but has another habeas corpus before a US Federal judge in January.