Supreme Court admits cases against loose cannon deputy

The plenary session of the Supreme Court has admitted two complaints filed by the director of the National Police, Jorge Miranda , against  controversial g Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD)  deputy Jairo Bolota Salazar.

The complaints relate  to threatening incidents between the deputy and members of the Police.

The first complaint was filed on November 13, 2019, after Police officers tried to stop a riotous party in the Altos de Los Lagos sector, Colón, attended by the deputy was. The annoyed, Salazar, shouted expletives at law enforcement officers and later went to a police substation and offered to fight police on duty.

The complaint was filed in the office of Supreme Court Justice Angela Russo, who prepared a draft ruling requesting the admission of the complaint, a motion that was supported by the rest of the magistrates

The second complaint against Salazar was filed in  March by Police attorneys who denounced the deputy after he was intercepted by the Police while driving a car without a license plate and refused to show his driver’s license.

The case was originally left to magistrate Luis Ramón Fábrega, president of the Court, but it was later decided that judge  Russo process both complaints. Judge José Ayú Prado was appointed as judge of guarantees of the process.

The deputy has a third complaint pending admission to the Supreme Court

filed by fellow PRD deputy  Kayra Harding on April 23 for alleged gender violence.

Harding reported that at a bench meeting, Salazar threw a bottle of water at her that hit her in the face and chest.

 Harding cited 13 deputies from the PRD and the Liberal Republican Nationalist Movement (Molirena) who witnessed the events.

Deputy Manolo Ruiz, from Molirena, confirmed in a radio program broadcast in Chiriquí that Harding was attacked at the meeting.

Harding’s complaint was assigned to magistrate Olmedo Arrocha, who asked the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences for certification of the injuries suffered by the deputy.

According to sources in the Judicial Branch, Arrocha prepared a draft ruling to admit Harding’s complaint. It is estimated that the issue will be dealt with by the full Court on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Magistrate Cecilio Cedalise must decide whether or not to admit a complaint Jairo Salazar filed against Kayra Harding last week.

He accuses her of the alleged commission of crimes against the public administration in the form of simulating punishable acts, and slander.

On April 30, the day the appeal was filed, Ronier Ortiz, one of the deputy’s lawyers, said that the complaint arose basically because Harding branded his represented as a “criminal” in the media and in the plenary session of the National Assembly. The lawyer specified that they presented documents to the Court that allegedly prove that his client has no criminal record.

REGISTER now for FREE  subscription to Newsroom