Trips of accusedattorneys who claim they were not properly notified or “collective vacation“in December of the law firms are some of the many pretexts that have prevented the final start of the judgment background against the former attorney general Jean Alain Rodríguez and 14 other defendants.
The current stage of the process will be completed in June 2026 two yearswithout it having finished starting, and five since the file of a alleged network that operated within the Attorney General’s Office to divert public funds, manipulate purchasing processes, extort and use State resources for personal and political purposes.
What causes have delayed the start of the judgment against Jean Alain Rodríguez?
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Days have passed since the former prosecutor was arrested and the substantive trial has not yet begun.
The next hearing is scheduled for January 14, 2026, the last day set by the Second Collegiate Court of the National District after accepting the defenses’ request for a new postponement.
According to the Public Ministrylawyers argued last week that there collective vacation in their offices and a medical license until December 11, lawyer Enrique Vallejo Garib, who represents Jhonatan Loander Medina Reyes.
The preliminary was postponed almost 100 times
He former attorney Rodríguezaccused of defrauding the State with more than 6,000 million pesoswas sent to judgment background on June 28, 2024 by Judge Amauri Martínez, of the Third Investigative Court of the National District, who knew that phase in which a rapid and unintelligible full reading to more than 12,000 pages of the accusation file.
The reading, by prosecutors and at the magistrate’s disposal, it took almost six months in long hearings, in which defendants, lawyers and even journalists dozed.
According to Citizen Participationin the preliminary stage there were 94 postponements before the judge issued his final decision to dictate opening to trial background to Rodríguez and 14 other defendants. More than 20 defendants negotiated with the Public Ministry.
On the 7th August of 2024, the Fourth Collegiate Court of the National District was already in charge of the case and a week later he called the first hearing for the September 23 of that same year.
However, even though they were summoned a month earlier, two accused they showed up without lawyers and another was out of the country.
Those who came without legal representatives were the former head of the Information and Communication Technology Directorate of the Public Ministry, Javier Alejandro Forteza Ibarraand the former accountant of that organization, Rafael Antonio Mercedes Marte. The first asked to be assigned a public defender and the second reported that he changed the one he had.
That same day the 23rd, lawyer of Jose Miguel Estrada Jackson reported that this was out of the country and that he returned five days after the failed hearing.
How has the judicial process evolved since the preliminary stage?
The third failed hearing of the judgment In essence, on November 5, 2024, it was postponed to January 8 due to an “error” in the call that caused the non-attendance of the defenses and some defendants.
In January 2025, the defense of the former official challenged the four judges of the Fourth Collegiate Courtwhom he accused of being arbitrary and of prevarication, a challenge that was accepted by the court and the case had to be assigned, by lottery, in March of this year 2025, to another court.
The chosen one was Second Collegiate Courtthat the day March 4 called for the May 1that is, for almost two months later. The defense resorted to the same allegation, that they were not correctly summoned, so the extended process was extended again for the June 23.
On the next two scheduled dates, for June 23 and July 21 of this year, the Public Ministry Nor did the reading of the accusation begin, of which the president of the court, Claribel Nivar Ariasordered that only the “facts and legal qualification” be read and not the 12,274 pages verbatim.
What obstacles do scheduled hearings face? judgment background?
On those occasions, the hearings were postponed to wait for the decision of a appeal that the accused filed Juan Asael Martínez to the ruling of the court that revoked a no case in his favor and dictated opening to trial.
In August was postponed again to extend the deadline for Martínez to prepare his defense after the Supreme Court of Justice will reject the appeal. Afterwards, the September 22the accused Ramon Lucrecio Burgos presented medical license.
In the first failed hearing of the Second Collegiate Court in the substantive trial of the former attorney, Judge Claribel Nivar Arias complained to the defendants and reminded them that postponements generate expenses for the court and the system. She questioned the accused Alfredo Alexander Solano for “favoring” an “error” in the notification and not appearing at the hearing, which forced it to be postponed. “This, gentlemen, generates personnel expenses, expenses for the system (…) Despite the large number of cases it is handling, this court has dedicated substantial time to this process to prepare it for today (May 1, 2025). It issued all the notifications, all of them,” complained Judge Nivar Arias. She explained that the “error” of the notification was due to “an issue of an address that the judicial office was not aware of at the time of preparing it.” She said that the former official accused of corruption took advantage of the right given to him by the rule not to attend, if he did not receive the notification, but with his “collaboration” the erroneous procedure could well have been corrected.
