Appeal against Martinelli ‘not guilty’ ruling

One of the complainants in the wiretapping trial of former President Ricardo Martinell presented on Monday, September 16 support for his appeal against the judgment that declared Martinelli not guilty of peculation and telephone espionage.

The lawyer Carlos Herrera Delegado said he hopes that the court will reverse the verdict, arguing that there were serious injuries to the due process since the actions taken by the Supreme Court were discarded.

“We are asking that the sentence declaring  the former president not guilty l be revoked and that, as there are violations of due process and there are errors in the application of the law, the sentence is revoked and the sentence is decreed because the Court, through the Second Chamber, has the power to do so, ”said Herrera Delegado , lawyer for Balbina Herrera, one of a group of complainants.

Defense response
 In the afternoon Martinelli and his team of lawyers went to the offices of the accusatory criminal system to present a notice of opposition due to the appeals filed, both by the prosecution and the complainants.

“Today we present the response by the defense to the opposition to the annulment resources that had been transferred to us. We have already been notified of an appeal filed by other complainant parties, so we will also give you the answer, ”said lawyer Alfredo Vallarino.

The lawyer said he expects to be “inadmissible for matters of form and substance.”

“There is no due process here, there is political persecution,” Martinelli said to the media.

Martinelli faced a sentence of up to 21 years in prison for the alleged commission of four crimes: the inviolability of secrecy and the right to privacy, and two forms of peculation (use and embezzlement).  

On August 9, in their verdict, judges Roberto Tejeira, Raúl Vergara and Arlene Caballero, considered that regarding the first two crimes, the absence of judicial authorization to carry out the interceptions were not proven. In other words, there was no evidence that the espionages were illegal.