The three judges of the First Judicial District of Panama who, since July 22, presided over the trial against the former president of the Republic, Ricardo Martinelli, for alleged political espionage, on the night of this Tuesday, November 9, declared it formally. unanimously “acquitted”.
Said judgment would not be appealable, since article 179 of the Criminal Procedure Code states that “when a new trial is ordered against the defendant who has been acquitted by the appealed judgment, and as a result of this new trial is acquitted, said judgment is not subject to any appeal ”.
In August 2019, Martinelli was found not guilty by three other judges, a decision that was later overturned and a new trial was ordered.
Judges Iveth Francois Vega, Jennifer Saavedra Naranjo and Marysol América Osorio summoned all parties for next November 24, for the full reading of the verdict.
According to the court, no evidence was presented to prove that Martinelli ordered the espionage carried out, between 2012 and 2014, from the 150 building in Ancón, of the well-known National Security Council. To give this verdict, approximately 24 points were read.
“Justice has finally been applied, seven years in this torture, in this torture, I thank God, I thank the Panamanian justice, I have suffered a lot, I do not want this to happen to any Panamanian, please impute to everyone, do things as they are, please do not do what they have done to me to anyone else ”, were the first words of the ex-president, after his departure from court.
