Panama ex-president Martinelli acquitted in illegal wiretapping case

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A Panamanian court acquitted Tuesday former President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) for the case of illegal wiretapping during his term, known as “Pinchazos”, in a new oral trial.

“Justice has finally been applied, seven years of this torture, in this ordeal (…), I thank the Panamanian Justice, I have suffered a lot, and I regret, and I do not want this that has happened to me to happen to any Panamanian,” said the former president at the exit of the courthouse.

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Tucked under a festive atmosphere by supporters of his new party Realizando Metas (RM), the former president left minutes after entering the courthouse escorted by his defense and left the Criminal Accusatory System in Panama City.

The Court, composed of three judges, unanimously considered that the “former president had not given orders for the interception of telecommunications, monitoring, persecution, and surveillance without judicial authorization” and set for next November 24 the hearing for the reading of the sentence, informed the Judiciary.

Martinelli, during an appearance in Nextv – a TV channel owned by him – asked the “American Government for a humanitarian favor”: that his two sons, Ricardo and Enrique, imprisoned in Guatemala, and one of them about to be extradited to the US for an alleged money laundering crime linked to the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, “go together to face Justice”.

This new oral trial against Martinelli began last July with a month of delay of the scheduled date due to two suspensions and after the annulment of the first one in which he was declared “not guilty” in 2019.

The former president faced two crimes in this second trial -interception of telecommunications, and tracking, pursuit, and surveillance without judicial authorization-, which exposed him to a penalty of up to 8 years in prison, a drastic reduction compared to the first one, which faced four crimes and the maximum sentence of 21 years.

During the trial, there were some mishaps and postponements during the 67 days it lasted, with Martinelli being singled out for allegedly delaying the start of the trial and for having quarrels with a former member of Congress -alleged victim of the illegal wiretapping-.

In addition, in the last weeks, he dragged the doubt of his possible suspension due to an alleged lack of indictment at the beginning of the legal process in the Panamanian Supreme Court.

The case is known as “Pinchazos” has been complicated since its beginnings in 2015 in the sphere of the Supreme Court: Martinelli fled to the US, where he was imprisoned for a year battling against his extradition to Panama, which finally became effective in 2018, and subsequently resigned from the regional delegation, which gave him a prerogative, so his process went to the ordinary Justice.

After a lengthy trial, he was found “not guilty,” but a year later, an appeals court overturned it and reordered the trial to hold a new one this year.

According to the investigations, the 69-year-old former president was accused of intercepting the telecommunications of more than a hundred people, including business people, opposition politicians, and even his allies and journalists.

Martinelli, who has always defended his innocence, calls this process a “political hoax”, which is an alleged “political persecution”, and points to the upper echelons of politics and the Government for allegedly wanting to disqualify him for the 2024 general elections, in which he plans to run for the presidency again with his new Realizando Metas (RM) party.

In Panama, Martinelli is also being prosecuted and is banned from leaving the country in the Odebrecht case for alleged money laundering and the “New Business” case linked to the purchase of a media conglomerate.