Ex-president Martinelli claims  $10 million from two judges

Panama former president)  Ricardo Martinelli claims payment of – $5 million each from Supreme Court judges   Jerónimo Mejía and Harry Díaz, in a November 21 criminal complaint for alleged abuse of authority and violation of the duties of public servants.

Mejía and Díaz served as judge of guarantees and prosecutor in the process followed by Martinelli for alleged political espionage and embezzlement when the case was the responsibility of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ).

Later, on August 9, a court – formed by judges Roberto Tejeira, Arlene Caballero and Raúl Vergara declared him not guilty. The verdict   was appealed to the Supreme Court

In the complaint, Martinelli requests that specialists in psychology and psychiatry of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (Imelcf) produce  an expert report, “in order to record the sufferings caused by this situation and to keep documents in the file, the damages suffered on a personal, family, heritage and economic level. “

The former president and supermarket billionaire maintains that Mejía and Díaz’s performance as a judge of guarantees and prosecutor, respectively, prevented the “really” knowing who were the perpetrators or those responsible for the “alleged” espionage and that they should be called to respond to Rolando López. , director of the National Security Council in the government of Juan Carlos Varela (2014-2019)

Martinelli refers in his complaint to an opinion of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the Human Rights  Council of the United Nations , which said that  “the deprivation of freedom of  Ricardo Martinelli  is arbitrary, because it contravenes articles 9, 10, 11, 19 and 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 9, 14, 19 and 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and falls under category III ” .

The decision is not binding, although it indicates alleged defects in the arrest of the former president pending his trial, which ended on August 9. The Working Group did not visit Panama, did not consult independent experts and limited itself to evaluating the information submitted by the interested party.

President Laurentino Cortizo announced that on November 25 he will announce who will replace Mejía and Díaz in the Supreme Court/