Martinelli defense lawyers begin rearguard action

After being sideswiped  by the plenary of the Supreme Court in their attempts to halt the  accusation hearing  against former President Ricardo Martinelli for allegedly spying on communications of at least 150 people, through the National Security Council (CSN) his defense team has launched into what promises to be  a long drawn out rearguard action against prosecuting judge, Harry Diaz with procedural objections expected at every step of the way

On Monday, July 16 the hearing before Judge of Guarantees, Jerónimo Mejía, resumed at 10:25 a.m.

Sidney Sittón, one of the defense lawyers, began to detail what he calls the “flaws” and “blunders” in the presentation of the accusation against his client, and requested a “corrected ” accusation by Diaz that allows “a real right of defense “.

“What people were affected, what equipment was used, who were the officials to whom the orders were supposedly given, “are some of the details that -according to Sitton- are lacking in the accusation.

According to the lawyer, it is not explained in the accusation when, where and how the instructions to make the interceptions, through the CSN. would have been given by the defendant.

Sitton also  requested “the envelope with the identification of the protected witness as indicated by After a recess of about three hours, the magistrate of guarantees Jerónimo Mejía resumed the

Sitton objected to most of the 74 testimonial evidence presented by the prosecutor.

He said that the evidence “lacked support “and violated the procedural technique, by not justifying any of them.

… Developing