Court rejects  appeal of ex-president’s son

 The Constitutional Court of Guatemala has rejected constitutional guarantee protection with which Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares detained in Guatemala since last July 6, intended to change the three judges who must decide his eventual extradition to the United States.

The Constitutional Court confirmed a decision adopted last year by the First Chamber of the Court of Appeals.

The court specified that Denis Cuesy, Martinelli Linares’ lawyer, must pay a fine for each of the appeals filed so far, routinely applied when the Court considers that unsupported appeals have been filed.

Martinelli Linares insists on the alleged violation of his rights as an alternate deputy of Parlacen.  Despite the fact that he was never sworn in and has never held that position. In documents presented to the courts, he uses the title “parliamentarian.” Part of the claim is that the judges of the Third Court of Criminal Sentencing, Drug Trafficking, and Crimes against the Environment (who must decide on their eventual delivery to the United States) did not grant him the 15d ays requested by the defense, to gather the evidence in his favor.

Until now, the criteria of the courts is that the judges of the Third Court of Criminal Sentencing, Drug Trafficking and Financial Crimes have acted in the exercise of their powers and in accordance with the Regulatory Law of Extradition Procedure

Ricardo Alberto and his brother Luis Enrique, both sons of former President Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal, were arrested on July 6, 2020, at Guatemala’s La Aurora airport, when they were trying to board a private plane to Panama. Since then, they remain in the jails of the Tower of Courts.

Luis Enrique is also requested for extradition, but his case is processed by a different court: the Fifth Criminal Sentence. Here  Cuesy presented another challenge.