Court rejects  fifth protection for ex- president Martinelli

Former President Ricardo Martinelli suffered a fifth legal setback after the First Superior Court of Justice did not admit him the protection of constitutional guarantees in the New Business case.

The appeal was presented by the former president’s team of lawyers, against decisions adopted by criminal judge Baloisa Marquínez during the New Business case trial.

For this process, Martinelli was sentenced to 128 months in prison and paid a fine of $19.2 million for money laundering.

On this occasion, the Amparo presented by Martinelli alleges that Judge Marquínez violated her constitutional guarantees by not allowing his lawyers to interrogate the protected witnesses identified with the numbers N-Fecdo-01-2020 and N-Fecdo-10-2020, during the trial held between May 23 and June 2, 2023.

The ruling, endorsed by judges Lilianne M. Ducruet, Miguel Espino and Juan Carlos Tatis , did not admit the appeal presented by lawyer Lisbeth Querube Remis , representing the former president, and confirmed a decision of the Superior Court for the Settlement of Criminal Cases (which had already agreed with Judge Marquínez) on October 24.

The Superior Court for the Settlement of Criminal Cases, headed by judges José Hoo Justiniani, Manuel Mata Avendaño, and Eyda Amarilis Juárez, rejected an incident of annulment presented by Martinelli, in which he asked to annul the entire process for this reason.

On that occasion, the judges of the Superior Court of Liquidation argued that the failure to appear at the trial of both protected witnesses “did not in any way represent the defenselessness of the parties nor did it compromise the right of material and technical defense, to the point of affecting the due process”.

This is the fifth protection of guarantees that both the First Court and the Supreme Court  have rejected for the former president in the New Business case, in which the use of public funds to acquire the shares of Editora Panamá América, SA (Epasa) was proven. ), in December 2010.

Martinelli is the beneficiary of 60% of Epasa’s shares. Judge Marquínez ordered the confiscation of said actions. The remaining 40% is already in the power of the State.

The former president also filed an appeal before the Criminal Chamber of the Court, in which he alleges alleged inconsistency in the ruling (already ratified in two instances) that convicted him and four other people for the crime of money laundering.

The cassation is in the hands of Judge Ariadne García, who must decide whether to admit it or not.