The judge of guarantees of Chiriquí, Wilbert Castillo, in a hearing of multiple requests held at the headquarters of the Accusatory Penal System, ordered the personal precautionary measure of house arrest for a 38-year-old woman, because the evidence presented by the Public Ministry were considered minimal to be able to link it to the crime against humanity, in the form of human trafficking for the sexual exploitation of minors.
The Prosecutor’s Office Against Organized Crime announced that it will appeal such decision and a hearing was scheduled for next February 10 in the Court of Appeals.
This woman is linked to the child trafficking network that was dismantled this Thursday in the “Luz de Esperanza” operation, which was carried out simultaneously in communities in Costa Rica and Panama, by police authorities from both countries.
In this hearing, which was held this Saturday, February 5, 2022, the judge of guarantees founded that the personal precautionary measure of home retention is “the most suitable” because the minor victim, in statements, does not bind the imputed to the criminal act, but to a third person.
Previously, the Judge legalized the arrest and considered the filing of charges filed by the prosecutor against Organized Crime of Panama, Miguel Tuñón.
Meanwhile, the legal assistance of the accused was in charge of the Public Defender, René Iglesias, who requested the precautionary measure of home retention for his client.
The investigation into these events arose on December 16, 2021, when a woman was arrested in the Balsa community sector, in the district of Barú, for allegedly prostituting her underage sister.
The Prosecutor’s Office Against Organized Crime investigated and determined that there were about 10 minor victims of this network, who were transferred to Costa Rican territory where adults allegedly paid for sexual favors. There is also evidence that video recordings were made where the minors are.
For this same reason, there are three women with a precautionary measure of provisional detention.
