Appeals against Martinelli “not guilty” ruling in limbo

A year after a court declared ex-president Ricardo Martinelli “not guilty” of political espionage and embezzlement, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court has not admitted  appeals filed by the plaintiffs’ lawyers and the Public Ministry

On August 9, 2019, the  judges Roberto Tejeira , Arlene Caballero and Raúl Vergara , declared Martinelli “not guilty.

The plaintiffs (Juan Carlos Navarro, Mauro Zúñiga, Rosendo Rivera, Mitchell Doens, Balbina Herrera and Rubén Polanco) and the then Prosecutor against Organized Crime, Ricaurte González, announced the presentation of appeals.

The legal actions began  on September 16, 2019, when the prosecutor González and the lawyer Rosendo Rivera , presented the appeals before the Criminal Chamber

The resources were in the hands of Wilfredo Sáenz, but in December his appointment as substitute magistrate expired and he left office. Then the speaker was Maribel Cornejo, who arrived at the Court in January 2020.

Cornejo decided to develop her own project,  but to date, there have been no details of its possible content reports La Prensa.

Rosendo Rivera, victim and complainant, considered that a year after the decision of the trial court, the Criminal Chamber has had enough time to decide the admissibility of the appeals.

He said that given what is happening internationally in relation to Martinelli and his two children (detained in Guatemala awaiting extradition to the US ) a statement from the authorities is necessary.

Carlos Herrera Morán, Mauro Zúñiga’s lawyer, said the delay is inexcusable. He said that his office sent two emails to the Criminal Chamber, requesting a prompt decision.

Nicomedes Castillo, the lawyer for Juan Carlos Navarro, was optimistic about the appeals.

He considered as an important fact the declaration of senior officials of the United States government, such as Michael Kozak, undersecretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, regarding their interest in having corruption cases in the region prosecuted with the full weight of the law.

Carlos Carrillo, from Martinelli’s legal team, said the court’s ruling revealed “the manipulation and use of power in handling the investigations that were made to accuse him.”

Convictions
In the puncture case there were two convictions: the former directors of the National Security Council, Gustavo Pérez and Alejandro Garuz. The Sixteenth Criminal Court imposed 50 months in prison on each one, as primary accomplices in the crime against freedom, “in its modality of crimes against the inviolability of secrecy and the right to privacy.” Both appealed, but the sentence was upheld by the Second Court of Justice.