Martinelli lawyers lose two court appeals

The high-profile-high-priced legal team of former Panama president Ricardo  Martinelli lost another two rounds in their battle to get him out of jail on  Monday, October 15 when the Plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice rejected requests on legal medical evaluation and review of his precautionary measures.

After seven hours of deliberation, the magistrates declared that the court is not competent to make the decision on medical evaluation, and any request must be resolved by the  Penitentiary System. and they denied the request for a review of precautionary measures, as the defense did not present any new element for modification.

Martinelli has been held since June 11 in the El Renacer prison accused of illegal interception of communications of at least 150 political opponents, journalists lawyers, and businessmen.

The prosecuting judge, Harry Diaz is calling for a  21-year jail term, and waiting in the wings are at least a dozen corruption investigations. The ex-president was detained in a Miami jail for a year awaiting extradition. He was refused bail by US judges as he was considered a flight risk.

Martinelli’s lawyer, Carlos Carrillo supported the request for a review by the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (Imelcf), based on various regulations that state that the permit must be granted by the competent court.

The request for the review of the preventive detention was in the hands of lawyer Sidney Sittón.

based on various articles of the Constitution and international agreements.

Diaz did not oppose health examination of the former president, as long as it is comprehensive and not only with private doctors and included include all the medical history since he returned to Panama.

On the request for change of precautionary measure, Diaz made it clear that the prosecution is going to oppose any change other than preventive detention, because illegal wiretapping, a serious crime