Lawyers call for speed as court dithers

LAWYERS representing victims of government wiretapping, during the Ricardo Martinelli administration are becoming increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of the justice system as they seek to have the ex-president brought before the courts to face wiretapping and corruption charges that, if found guilty, could see him sentenced to spend most of his life behind bars.

After two days of meetings The plenum of the Supreme Court has failed to reach a decision on a writ of habeas corpus filed by Martinelli’s lawyers to prevent his arrest on charges related to illegal surveillance that he allegedly ordered during his administration.
Judge Luis Ramón Fábrega ruled that the matter could not be resolved because the judges who were involved in the decision to order the arrest of Martinelli could not resolve the issue.
Instead, Alternate Judge Efrén Tello was appointed to review the petition and issue a recommendation.
The plenary agreed to the decision.
The writ of habeas corpus was presented by Rogelio Cruz, Martinelli’s lawyer, on Dec. 23. Cruz alleged that the arrest order was flawed by “simple inattention to the legal process.”
The former president was declared to be willfully absent from a hearing on the case.on Dec. 11 by Judge Jeronimo Mejía
That prompted lawyers for the victims in the case, as well as prosecutor Harry Díaz, to file requests for Martinelli to be arrested..

Carlos Herrera Moran, lawyer forr Mauro Zúñiga demanded that the process be expedited and a decision made by the judges.
He said the appeal filed by the defense of former President Martinelli is a strategy to delay the process and save time, and “the Court indirectly is playing the game.”
, Angel Alvarez, lawyer for Zulay Rodríguez; the teachers’ union leader Yadira Pino; lawyer Miguel Antonio Bernal, and the former deputy Yassir Purcait, said the decision by Fabrega, means the rest of the judges of the could use the same argument for not resolving the appeal.