The defense of General (r) Ricardo Martínez, former commander in chief of the Army, went to the Constitutional Court (TC) accusing that in the investigation against the former officer there are violations of due process, in addition to “legislative contraband”. For these reasons, in the presentation made by the lawyer Juan Carlos Manríquez, it is requested that the TC order the suspension of the investigation, especially considering that there is a risk that proceedings will be issued against the ex-uniformed.
The legal action presented yesterday by Manríquez, from the MBCIA Lawyers firm, is a requirement of inapplicability due to unconstitutionality, regarding the investigation carried out by Minister Romy Rutherford against Martínez. The document indicates that the investigation has two shortcomings that are contrary to the Constitution.
The first is that the rules of due process would not be respected, since Rutherford seeks that the general (R) cannot testify in the presence of his defense attorney.
The second is identified as “legislative contraband.” This, the document points out, refers to the fact that legal and constitutional controls have been bypassed, with the aim that Congress approve the laws that allowed the extension of the period of Romy Rutherford as a visiting minister to investigate the case of Fraud in the army.
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According to the requirement, these situations “alter the rule of the natural, objective and impartial judge, because it ends up having the effect, in practice, of having people subject to an ad-hoc court or special commission, which is expressly prohibited by the Constitution. , and that is what the 2nd Military Court of Santiago, the First Military Prosecutor’s Office of Santiago (former Sixth), has become by virtue of the so-called `Rutherford Law 2’”.
Likewise, the brief indicates, “that risk of stagnation, says the Doctrine, without changing the court prevents new views, deepens a single vision of the facts in the same person who then must decide whether to accuse and/or convict or acquit, an extremely Difficult to happen if the process is built with logics of condemnation in the investigation and in the application of substantive criminal law, closing any option to more reasonable alternative thesis or interpretations or simply not incriminating.
Given this request, and under the risk that the judge decrees some diligence against Martínez, it is that it was requested that the case be paralyzed. The precise requirement is that this measure will not affect the appeals that still have to be heard by the Supreme Court.
