Call for TE magistrates’ resignations after Supreme Court  ruling

The lawyers who denounced the magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal (TE), Heriberto Araúz and Alfredo Juncá, for the alleged commission of crimes against the public administration have called for their resignations following a Supreme Court declaration that a ruling they made was unconstitutional.

On March 22 the TE was ordered to maintain the criminal electoral jurisdiction of former President Ricardo Martinelli, within the process for alleged money laundering in the New Business case and invoked the specialty principle in favor of Martinelli, despite the fact that his case was handled in the criminal sphere.

The complaints against the two TE magistrates remain active in the Public Prosecutor’s Office, confirmed a source confirmed to La Prensa.

The lawyers José Alberto Álvarez and Mitchel Doens said that the performance of Araúz and Juncá has been questioned in the face of the 2024 elections.

Doens argues that this precedent leaves much to say about officials who are called to guarantee freedom, honesty, and effectiveness of the vote.

Álvarez, for his part, assured that the Court not only agreed with them, but also made it clear that Araúz and Juncá exceeded their duties and, therefore, “committed a crime .”

Both are preparing briefs to ask the Attorney General, Javier Caraballo, to ask the Court for a hearing so that Juncá and Araúz are removed from their posts.

Caraballo himself issued an opinion to the Court on the Resolution of March 22 of the TE, pointing out that the actions of Juncá and Araúz violated several articles of the Constitution, given that they issued a statement on a subject “totally outside their jurisdiction .”

 Juncá and Araúz changed their criteria on the principle of specialty when they had to attend to Martinelli’s jurisdiction in the Odebrecht case.