13 lawmakers may testify in deputy assault case

At least 13 deputies from the ruling alliance of the PRD and Molirena parties are expected to testify in hearings into alleged attacks by one of their own on party members during a  caucus meeting.

The  protagonists are  Kayra Harding, Jairo Bolota Salazar and Mariano López. Salazar is alleged to have punched López and hit Harding with a bottle of water.

 Pedro Miguel Gonzalez, Secretary-General of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), said on  Friday, April 24, that he spoke yesterday with “at least” 15 deputies who witnessed the incident and heard different “positions” of what happened: some corroborate what Harding said, while others played down the event.

Harding has filed a criminal complaint of gender violence against Salazar in the Supreme Court.

“There are positions and positions, I cannot anticipate what the results of the investigations will be,” González said in Telemetro Reporta . 

Magistrate Olmedo Arrocha is already circulating a draft ruling, on the admission or not of the complaint. For now, he requested a medical examination from the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Sciences and addressed a note to the president of the National Assembly, Marcos Castillero, in which he asked for protective measures in favor of Harding.

If the complaint is admitted, 13 deputies of the PRD official and its ally the Liberal Republican Nationalist Movement (Molirena) will have to testify, under oath. One of them Leandro Ávil said, in an interview with Radio Panamá , that what Harding has said “is what happened.”

Harding said, that Salazar had insulted her  and assaulted her with a bottle of water, and that he  also hit deputy Mariano López on the forehead.