All proceedings against former President of the Republic Ricardo Martinelli could be declared null, this because the former president is being investigated despite enjoying an electoral criminal protection.
The information was released by the lawyer Sidney Sitton in a text that he introduced to the plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) to warn of the existence of such violation.
Sitton filed with the Secretary General of the Court official documentation confirming that Martinelli has the electoral criminal protection since 3 June of this year, date when the Resolution 52 of June 2 was published, in which the Electoral Tribunal (TE) allows the timing of the internal party elections for Cambio Democrático, scheduled for October 25 of this year.
The Supreme Court had already ruled a question to the Electoral Court for confirmation that Martinelli enjoyed or not the electoral criminal protection.
TE's response was that, once the timing of the internal elections of the political group in question was adopted, the president Ricardo Martinelli will recover the electoral criminal protection.
The resolution where takes place the information about the criminal protection of Martinelli was posted on June 3 by the Electoral Tribunal on bulletin number 3,780.
On Monday, the plenary of the Supreme Court opened a second case against Ricardo Martinelli ten complaints related to research conducted Deputy Prosecutor for Organized Crime of the crime of phone tapping.
However, the plenary desition didn't have full unanimity of the nine judges.
Only seven of the nine judges voted in favor of the decision to admit the investigation against Martinelli, and two of this seven gave an explanation of vote, which means that they expressed some inconsistencies on the merits of the decision. It was of judges Jose Ayu Prado and Secundino Mendieta.
The other two votes that were not in favor was Luis Ramon Fabrega who abstained of voting, and Victor Benavides who wasn't present and has a criminal proceed in the National Assembly (AN) for crimes against public administration and sexual freedom to the detriment of underages.
In a judicial statement noted that in this new investigation against former President Martinelli, Judge Jerome Mejia returns to assume the office of judge of guarantees.
That's why the letter that submited Sittón was addressed to Judge Mejia to warn the annulment process.
The statement from the Court notes that the investigation charges are for the crimes of inviolability of secrecy and privacy, embezzlement, abuse of authority, against security and conspiracy.
According to Sitton, this decision by the Court plenary to admit the investigation against former President Martinelli is a crime of abuse of authority because they are ignoring a warning from the Electoral Court on the criminal protection of the former president.
For this reason, the lawyer didn't discard applied in criminal complaints against judges in the National Assembly.
The lawyer denounced the violations of the process by Oyden Ortega.
A second brief was filed by the lawyer Sittón to the Court, where he number the violations that are being committed in the process of research on the issue of the dehydrated food.
Sitton sent the statement to the prosecutor magistrate Oyden Ortega to correct the course of investigations on the grounds that, as they are doing, they are committing human rights violations against his client, therefore, he warned that there are being committed violations of the Constitution, international treaties and the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Sitton said that Ortega is making interviews and selects only the statements against his client, which is a violation of the principles of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which states that the investigation is to take all favorable and unfavorable elements.
He puts in evidence the interview made to the former director of the National Assistance Program (PAN), Rafael Guardia, who in his statement has not indicted the former Martinelli, however, this procedure was not provided in the booklet of the case.
"Oyden Ortega, before taking the measures of interviews with people, tells them that he will assist in cases (of those interviewed), only if they witness against Martinelli," said Sitton.
Deadline
Rogelio Cruz, Martinelli's lawyer, warned about the deadline of these allegations about phone tapping, which were submitted over two months ago.
Cruz said that the Code of Criminal Procedure sets a term of ten days for admitted a complaint, from the date of its presentation.
He was admitted Mitchell Does, Miguel Bernal, José Luis Varela, Bernabé Pérez, Balbina Herrera, Rosendo Rivera, Juan Carlos Navarro, Mauro Zúñiga, among others, as complainants
Martinelli: There are grounds to tried Varela President
Former President Ricardo Martinelli said today being politically persecuted, following the admission by the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) in a second criminal case against him for engaging in alleged illegal phone tapping during his administration.
"I am a victim of political persecution and I will not be the last," said the former president on his Twitter account.
In a second tweet, the president warned that his successor, Juan Carlos Varela, is violating the Constitution, for that reason there are reasons for the president to be judged.
Notes
- 9 judges form the plenary of the Supreme Justice Court
- 5 judges voted in favor to admit the investigations against Ricardo Martinelli without objections.
- 2 judges voted in favor to admitd the investigations but they present an objection about some inconsistencies on the merits of the decision.