Ombudsman firing process illegal – Transparency Internarional

The dismissal of the Ombudsman, Alfredo Castillero Hoyos, took place “in violation of constitutional guarantees and in lack of protection of human rights by the Legislative Body,”  said  the Panama branch of Transparency International (TI) on Friday, Oct. 11

 The agency says that it is up to the Supreme Court and not the National Assembly to investigate and prosecute the Ombudsman in criminal and police cases.

“Therefore, the illegality of the investigation carried out by the Committee for Women, Children, Youth, and Family, and the subcommittee for that articulated purpose is flagrant,” says TI.

In addition, it alleges that the due process and the presumption of innocence were not respected during the dismissal process of  October 9 in the Assembly and it  Urges the Assembly to send to the Supreme Court the information that the commission of a crime may entail. If this does not happen, citizens and the people involved could not see justice being done against possible crimes.

In the opinion of the agency, justice must prevail and not the political objective of dismissing the defender.

 “The objective of what happened in the National Assembly is immediately evident, with the requirement as soon as she took possession of office “.of the resignation of directors and chiefs made by the Deputy Defender in charge, Maribel Coco, who was active in the PRD until 15 days ago.”

Transparency International Panama asks that she be declared unable to assume the position of the current defender attached by party affiliation.

 “We call on the Supreme Court of Justice, the Executive Branch, the Attorney General’s Office, and the public to express their disagreement with this act of political illegitimacy, which goes against human rights, the service of justice, is a political nonsense and puts everyone in legal uncertainty: institutions and citizens alike. “