Court to discuss call to pull Martinelli passport

PANAMA’S  full Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) will  meet   shortly to  decide whether to accept  a reconsideration filed by attorney Angel Alvarez to withdraw the passport of ex- president Ricardo  Marinelli to prevent him fleeing  the United  States while facing wiretapping charges

At the hearing on December 21, Alvarez, a legal defender of several victims of wiretaps, asked the plenary of the Court to  withdraw Martinelli’s passport, but the request was not accepted and instead, an order was made for  Martinelli’s arrest

A judicial source revealed to La Prensa  that Judge Hernán De Leon will set a hearing date for making a decision.

The case was in the hands of De Leon, current vice president of the Court, after Judge Jose Ayu Prado (president) was declared recused on  October 21.

Alvarez submitted his request 48 hours after the arrest.

According to Alvarez, Martinelli’s passport  should  be canceled to prevent him  from leaving the United States, where he has been  since  January 2015, to  travel to another country with the intention of evading justice.

He argued that if the passport is canceled, Martinelli would be in the US illegally, so could  be deported to Panama to be brought before the full Court.

The Supreme Court is also has an  unresolved habeas corpus filed on  December 23 by Martinelli defense lawyers.

The file  is in the office of Judge Ephrem Tello, deputy of Luis Ramon Fabrega, who was declared disqualified from hearing the habeas corpus after  chairing  the plenary that ordered the preventive arrest of the former president.