OPINION: A Home of Impunity

What kind of people are administering justice in Panama?. The fifteenth circuit judge of the criminal branch took advantage of one of his peculiar rulings – in which he declared the relative nullity of the investigation for the rent of helicopters with funds from the National Assistance Program (PAN)-, to announce to the country that he will act legally, civilly and criminally against his critics. An old judicial adage reads that ” judges speak with their rulings”. If so, this judge has not stopped talking. This is the official who returned all his assets to a former director of the PAN, he has given generous bail to many fortunate high-profile detainees, and has laid down solid cases, which his superiors have had to re-establish. He speaks loud and clear with his sentences. It seems to say to Panamanians, that his court is a kind of home of impunity. With his expressions the judge seems to ignore that the code to which he once swore to comply forbids public servants from denouncing anyone for slander and insult. It is common in democracies for judges to be questioned. Baltasar Garzón and Sergio Moro have known that, that is the price of good public service. However, the mediocre and those with a questionable record are rejected  and repudiated  by  the population for their scandalous failures. Impunity will never silence us. that is the price of good public service.- LA PRENSA, Dec.1