The lawyer and executive director of the Foundation for the Development of Citizen Freedom, Olga de Obaldia, addressed this Friday the issue of the justice system and corruption in the country.
He stressed that we are extremely vulnerable to the penetration of corruption, organized crime and other figures, and we also have a tremendous default that has improved with the Accusatory Penal System.
“The incapacity that justice has had in these last two years or since the great Cemis scandal has been a high point, which is effectively corroding our democracy,” he remarked.
De Obaldia also referred to the possible civil lawsuit that former President Ricardo Martinelli will allegedly file against various media outlets, after the broadcast of the video captured by the digital medium Foco, in which he appears to share allegedly with the husband of one of the three judges who declared him not guilty in the punctures case, stating that the abuse of the judicial system to pursue freedom of expression, of the press, free press, in all its forms, be they traditional media or new digital media, which are a bit hybrid .
He said that the system lends itself to the abuse of lawsuits and kidnappings that generate or can generate complete bankruptcy for a small media outlet, a digital platform or an independent journalist.
According to the lawyer, what he seeks is to generate fear in the activist or journalist, so that when he is investigating a topic that he wants to publish or have an opinion, he is afraid or not.
“The Martinelli family, they alone have put more than 100 demands on journalists and the media in Panama over the last 10 years,” he said.