46-year sentence for youth jail boss annulled

The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court has annulled the  46-year jail sentence of  Iris Cedeño the former head of the Tocumen Juvenile Compliance for the death of five minors and attempted murder of others in January 2011.

The resolution was published on October 20, but the magistrates of the Criminal Chamber upheld the prison sentences for the rest of those investigated, among which are several guards and members of the police who came to quell an alleged brawl.

The Penal Chamber maintained a sentence of 46 years in prison for police officers Luis Carlos Ortega, Ángel Batista, and Eduardo Barreno. Their colleagues in uniform Joel Rodríguez and Maikol González received a 40-year prison sentence.

  Custodians Ernesto Blake, Darío Caballero, and Guillermo Ábrego were punished with six years in prison.

During the investigation, the Public Ministry confirmed that the cell in which the victims were found was set on fire by a tear gas bomb thrown by the police and that the door was padlocked so that the youths could not escape the flames.

Two of the survivors had injuries that left permanent injuries

At the time of the fire police officers were heard saying “let them burn” as trapped youths screamed for help and firemen tried to douse the flames.