Supreme Court Rejects Habeas Corpus to Zulay Rodríguez

A ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) declared non-viable a preventive habeas corpus filed by the defense of the former presidential candidate and deputy Zulay Rodríguez, within the process being followed for the alleged appropriation of gold bars belonging to the Mexican José Luis Penagos (RIP).  The appeal was presented by lawyer Ángel Álvarez, representing Rodríguez, against magistrate Ariadne García, who acts in this case as a guarantee judge.  The ruling was made public on the afternoon of this Friday, May 24, through Edict 576 and is signed by Judge Miriam Cheng Rosas; It had the saving vote of Judge Salvador Domínguez Barrios, substitute for Judge María Cristina Chen Stanziola. 

The appeal was presented within the process against Rodríguez for the alleged commission of money laundering crimes and the appropriation of 68 kilos of gold, property of Penagos.  The process is still in the Court (in charge of investigating and judging the deputies). This, despite the fact that Rodríguez – before the electoral elections on May 5 – publicly said she had resigned as a representative of the Democratic Revolutionary Party. However, the justice corporation has not received notification from the National Assembly about the aforementioned resignation. 

The case of Rodríguez – who was not a winner in the May 5 votes for the positions of president, mayor in the district of San Miguelito and deputy for free nomination – could go to the ordinary justice system, although she has stated that she will challenge the vote count for the position of representative in the circuit 8-2.  The Court also has pending resolution of two guarantee protections presented by Rodríguez within this process.  In the complaint by Juan David Penagos and his mother, Diana Clemencia Ríos Cardona, it is detailed that José Luis Penagos (RIP) was arrested in 2009 at the Tocumen International Airport for carrying 68 kilos of gold sheets.  Penagos hired Rodríguez to defend him in 2013, but it was alleged – as stated before in Newsroom Panama in a 3 part series – that she appropriated the gold.