OPINION: Panama’s selective justice system

In a rule of law, justice must be applied equally for all citizens. The reality of Panamanian prisons contrasts with this principle. In the country’s prisons, there are 7,537 provisionally detained. Of this amount, 86% have more than a year behind bars. The principle that provisional detention should last one year, except in exceptional cases, has not been applied to these inmates. Panama has to make a fundamental decision about criminal justice. The chronic lack of economic resources ca not be the cause of human beings not having a trial, having access to knowledgeable defenders of the system (and its technicalities) or that prosecutors are overworked. Precisely, the case of Ricardo Martinelli could demonstrate what the exhaustive fulfillment of the limit of one year of provisional detention would imply. It is a priority that the State invest in all those mechanisms such as bracelets and personal tracking systems that facilitate the release and monitoring of all detainees who are entitled to a change of precautionary measure. Justice is a public service that works well when it has the income it needs, and when its human resource is compromised- LA PRENSA, June 16