Trial date set for Martinelli sidekicks

THE TRIAL  against former government officials of former President Ricardo Martinelli who allegedly carried out wiretaps on hundreds of Panamanians  will begin on September 3 and is expected to last at least two weeks, official sources reported on Wednesday, Aug 22.

Alejandro Garúz and Gustavo Pérez, who were directors of the National Security Council during the Martinelli Administration are charged with the offense against freedom in the form of inviolability of secrecy and right to privacy,

The trial will be behind closed doors and if it trial cannot begin on September 3, the Sixteenth Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Panama proposed an alternate date of  November 19,

The subordinates of Garúz and Pérez, Ronny Ramiro Rodríguez and William Pitti, are also charged but are fugitives with an international arrest warrant.

The trial against Martinelli for allegedly ordering the interceptions is in the Supreme Court of as he was a deputy of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) when he was formally charged in October 2015. He is also facing numerous corruption investigations.