https://www.prensa.com/judiciales/Juicio-Martinelli-tribunal-escucha-alegatos_0_5368713087.html

The phase of allegations in the oral trial followed by former president Ricardo Martinelli , for alleged political and peculated espionage, began this Thursday, August 8, with almost an hour late.

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  The hearing was scheduled for 10:00 am and, although promptly initiated, the trial court had to first attend a request from the Public Ministry (MP) to transmit the act online. The defense opposed this request and the court finally rejected it.

In his speech – which began at 10:45 am – Ricaurte González , prosecutor against Organized Crime, asked for a conviction for the alleged commission of four crimes: against the inviolability of secrecy and the right to privacy, and two forms of peculate. A 21-year prison sentence is requested in the indictment.

González highlighted as blunt evidence the recognition of the victims to their intervened communications: emails, conversations via WhatsApp, audio recordings and transcripts made “illegally” by officials of the National Security Council , between 2012 and 2014.

Martinelli heard sitting in the front row, but with an eye on some documents in his hand. Beside him was his lawyer Jessica Canto.

The prosecutor also said that at the trial eight officials of the National Security Council declared that they recognized that the espionage was carried out from the offices of the entity, located in Quarry Heights, Ancon. To support the crime of peculation, he noted that spy equipment acquired from the company MLM Protection with funds from the National Assistance Program (PAN), does not appear.

At 11:55 am, the prosecutor finished his allegation and it was the turn of the complainants, represented by Carlos Herrera Delegate, lawyer for Mauro Zúñiga, victim of the punctures. The next will be defense lawyers.

Subsequently, it is the turn of the victims and the accused. Each has five minutes.

As usual, Martinelli arrived early at the headquarters of the First Judicial District escorted by police officers from his residence, in Altos del Golf, where he complies with the precautionary measure of house arrest since last June 11.

“It is an injustice what they are doing!” He shouted shortly before entering the room.

There were several victims of the punctures, accredited in the file, such as the PRD leaders Balbina Herrera , Francisco Sánchez Cárdenas, Reynaldo Rivera and Yassir Purcait; the former deputy and president of the Panamanian Party, José Luis Varela; the businessman Aurelio Barría, among others.