QCOSTARICA — A Panamanian court ordered the preventive detention (arrest) of former president Ricardo Martinelli, who remains in asylum (holed up) in the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama.
The 71-year-old Martinelli was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined US$19 million dollars for a money laundering case dating back to 2017 and related to his 2010 purchase of a publishing company that owns national newspapers. The transactions involved a complex series of foreign money transfers that came up to US$43 million dollars.
Panamanian authorities declared the former president at risk of flight, after having taken refuge a little over two weeks ago in the Nicaraguan embassy.
– Advertisement –
The court considered that there are sufficient elements to support the application of the precautionary measure, a change from Martinelli’s conditional release that had stood while he appealed his sentence.
The Supreme Court of Panama denied Martinelli’s final appeal earlier this month, upholding his sentence and presumably ending his attempt at a political comeback.
The decision analyzed and weighed the seriousness of the crime charged, the risk of flight evidenced by the conduct of the convicted person, the need to guarantee the effectiveness of the judicial process and the failure to comply with the precautionary measure of reporting.
The measure was taken by the judge of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama, Baloísa Marquínez, who admitted the request to modify the precautionary measure established by prosecutor Emeldo Márquez Pittí.
Martinelli, a populist who oversaw a period of big infrastructure projects, including the construction of the capital’s first subway line, governed Panama from 2009 to 2014.
He is also the first former president convicted of a crime in Panama and currently remains the presidential candidate of his party though Panama’s constitution bars anyone sentenced to prison for five years or more for a crime from holding elected office.
– Advertisement –
– Advertisement –
Source link
Rico
