Bizarre day in court for former president

The Judge of Guarantees in the case of illegal wiretapping during the reign of ex-president Ricardo Martinelli squashed, on  Wednesday, June  27m the latest attempted roadblock by defense lawyers.

In a statement that took over an hour, Jerónimo Mejía rejected the nullity incident presented by the lawyer Sidney Sitton., in the intermediate hearing in the case of telephone “punctures”.

The magistrate announced a new recess, and the hearing will resume for the fifth time on Thursday, June 28 at 9:00 a.m.

Martinelli was transferred from the El Renacer penitentiary to the Court. The ex-president was dressed formally on  Wednesday, but continued with his outbursts, calling out that he was a “politically persecuted” victim.

In a bizarre turn of events Ángel Álvarez representing some  of the 150 victims suggested that the case be moved back one step after Sitton, had  said “We are facing a system that, according to the ruling of the Court, had to apply each of the precepts in the common processes and the imputation had to be carried out. Martinelli is the only defendant in the Republic of Panama, which in any system, has not been imputed.”

Martinelli was overheard congratulating Ángel Álvarez, But the prosecutor Harry Diaz and lawyers for the victims were quick to present another picture.

Carlos Herrera, the complainant lawyer, recalled that “this is a very special process and if it is going to compare with an ordinary process, we have to return to the classroom”

David Cuevas González, the legal representative of the plaintiff, Rosendo Rivera, said: “We are in an intermediate phase and the Criminal Procedure Code which allows it to present incidents and objections to the

accusation. That being the case, the defenders have to object or present incidents to the accusation.

“What we must do is go into the background, people want to know the truth, the accusation has already been presented.

The lawyer of some victims in the case, Ángel Álvarez, questioned the lack of imputation to the former president Martinelli. “I do not share what we have discussed that the imputation is excluded, it is not true that there is a special procedure, “he said.  “Our request is that the case be returned so that the prosecutor makes the accusation.

The judge said that when Martinelli left Panama he gave power of attorney to his wife and with his team of lawyers in Panama, it was impossible for him not to know what had been going on.