Guatemalan court orders son of Ricardo Martinelli extradited to the United States

While his father, former president Ricardo Martinelli was in a Panama court listening  to  the prosecution’s closing argument in his illegal wiretapping  trial his eldest son Ricardo Martinelli Linares was in a Guatemalan court which ordered  his extradition to the United States to face a money-laundering trial alongside his brother Luis Enrique

During the hearing on Monday,  November 8 Martinelli Linares who arrived under heavy escort using a cane presented a memorandum in which he agrees to be extradited as soon as possible to the United States on a voluntary basis; and not to present any further recourse against this extradition. The Third Criminal Sentencing Court of Guatemala accepted and ordered the extradition of Martinelli Linares to the United States.

The Court also accepted the request of the Prosecutor’s Office to seize two Apple cell phones that he had at the time of his arrest in June 2020, at the Aurora Airport. Upon leaving the court, Martinelli Linares spoke with his lawyers but refused to speak to the media.

Meanwhile, his brother Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares awaits a date to be extradited to New York and face in court the multiple charges related to the alleged laundering of $28 million, the product of bribes from Odebrecht to Panama.

The Martinelli brothers will remain detained in the Mariscal Zavala military prison, where they have been detained since June 2020, until the date for their surrender to the United States is set.