Supreme Court rejects Martinelli legal ploy
Panama’s Supreme Court has thrown out the latest attempt by Ricardo Martinelli’s legal team to throw a wrench into his extradition process which would bring him to trial for illegal wiretapping of political opponents, journalists, businessmen and others who crossed his path.
The plenary of the court rejected a petition of constitutional guarantees presented in favor of the ex-president (2009-2014), seeking to nullify the declaration of former National Security Council operator Ismael Pitti, giving inside information of the illegal wiretapping.process
In a ruling dated December 28, 2017 -after it received the presentation of magistrate Luis Mario Carrasco-, the full plenary dismissed the appeal presented by the lawyer Luis Eduardo Camacho González, in which he asked to leave without effect a note of the Panamanian Chancellery of January 23. 2017 in which the statement of Pitti was introduced in Martinelli’s extradition request filed with the United States Department of State.
In his statement, Pitti gives details of how the telephone interception system operated and emails that Martinelli established in the Security Council. In addition, he noted that the work of espionage was carried out by a special group led by Ronny Rodríguez and William Pitti, who received special training to operate an espionage system, purchased from Israel.
Camacho was a spokesman for Martinelli while he was in office, and has continued the role since Marinelli fled the country and continues to describe the multiple criminal investigations, including embezzlement. as “political persecution.”
Martinelli recently celebrated his 66th birthday in a US Federal DetentionCenter in Miami, where he has been detained. awaiting extradition since his arrest near his newly purchased Coral Gables luxury mansion on June 12 last year.
