Guatemala court clears path for extradition of Martinelli son to US

The First Chamber of the Guatemala Court of Appeals has rejected the appeals filed by the lawyers of Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, son of ex-president Ricardo  Martinelli and confirmed the decision of the judges of the Fifth Court of Criminal Sentencing, who had ordered his surrender to face charges related to money laundering, in a New York court.

“In the case at hand, both the objective and subjective requirements are met so that the extradition of the requested Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares is declared appropriate, by virtue of the fact that the crime for which the government of the United States of America requests his extradition is of the common order, it is punishable according to the laws of both States, it has a penalty of more than one year and there is a treaty in force between Guatemala and the United States, ”says the Order of June 21, 2021, signed by magistrates Freedyn Waldemar Fernández Ortiz (president), Aura Marina Mancilla Solares and Miriam Elizabeth Méndez de Blanco.

The lawyers Mónica Rodríguez Ortega and Dennis Cuesy Lessing , defenders of Martinelli Linares, had filed appeals against several decisions adopted on May 17, 2021, by the judges of the Fifth Court. That day, the judges denied two incidents (of partial nullity and clarification and expansion), declared the origin of the extradition request and placed the detainee at the order of the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry, ” so that the administrative procedure may proceed to the Government Agreement is issued that authorizes the delivery of the requested one to the United States Government ”. The judges ordered the seizure of the assets seized at the time of the arrest (money, cell phones).

Judges Fernández Ortiz, Mancilla Solares and Méndez de Blanco considered that all those decisions issued by the Fifth Court at the hearing of May 17, were in accordance with the law and, therefore, were confirmed by the Appeals Chamber.

Previously, the Appeals Chamber had already denied claims made by Cuesy to challenge the judges and to denounce alleged violations of the bilateral extradition treaty with the United States. The Chamber, on all occasions, ordered that the Fifth Court continue to hear the proceedings regarding the extradition.

Luis Enrique and his  older brother Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares have been detained in Guatemala, at the request of the United States, since July 6, 2020.