The continuing story of Ricardo Martinelli, his family and trials

[Keith Woolford]

Former President Martinelli is asking the Supreme Court of the U.S. to hold an 'emergency' hearing to hear his claim of 'rights violations'.

Good luck with that.

 

[JimAndNena]

8 hours ago, Keith Woolford said:

Former President Martinelli is asking the Supreme Court of the U.S. to hold an 'emergency' hearing to hear his claim of 'rights violations'.

Good luck with that.

 

Seems like a valid legal request by his lawyers.  The headline is just for sensationalism effect.

Quote

 

Attorneys for former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli, who is being detained in Miami on an extradition request to his homeland, filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday that asserts his constitutional rights have been violated because his bid for bond was denied.

Martinelli’s legal team argued that federal courts nationwide have “misconstrued” a 114-year-old Supreme Court decision “as having erected a heavy presumption against bail in such [extradition] cases.”

 

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article163335338.html

PS. Bud, did I fianally get the formatting right? Still learning.

Edited July 25, 2017 by JimAndNena

[Moderator_02]

47 minutes ago, JimAndNena said:

PS. Bud, did I fianally get the formatting right? Still learning.

Looks good from here.

[Moderator_02]

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Martinelli calls $20 million bail denial rights violation

Posted on July 24, 2017 in Panama

 

Miami court house and adjoining detention center

Post Views: 111

PANAMA’S FUGITIVE former president, Ricardo Martinelli, jailed in Miami since June 12, has presented a “petition” to the US Supreme Court, claiming that denial of his $20 million bail application by a district judge was a “violation” of his rights.

The habeas corpus action was filed Monday, July 24, by attorneys Marcos Daniel Jimenez, David O. Markus and Ricardo Bascuas, the Miami Herald reported.

They claim that the Judge Edwin Torres, of the Southern District Court of Florida, had no jurisdiction to resolve a dispute appeal filed by Martinelli’s defense against a Torres decision not to grant freedom under guarantee to his client.

Markus and Bascuas are part of the team of lawyers of the former Minister of Agriculture of Colombia, Andrés Felipe Arias, sentenced in his country to 17 years and 4 months of imprisonment for embezzlement.

Last year, Arias was detained in Miami and required for extradition by Colombia In  November, Judge John O’Sullivan Granted bail of $ 100,000; he has not yet decided on his extradition.

The lawyers argue that US courts have “misinterpreted” a decision of the Supreme Court of 114 years ago, which, over the years, has had repercussions on the granting bail in cases of extradition. This misinterpretation has prevailed so long, “that now it’s mandatory,  The Miami Herald quoted lawyers as saying.

Martinelli is being held in Miami, at the request of the Supreme Court of Justice of Panama, where he is required as part of the process followed for unauthorized interception of communications by the National Security Council, during the last two years of his term.

On July 7, Judge Torres denied a request for bail in favor of Martinelli, considering that there was a high risk of flight, given the economic patrimony and the ex-governor’s connections. The defense filed a review, but on July 18, the judge stated that he maintained his decision to deny release, despite the fact that Martinelli was asking for a $20 million bond similar to that granted to a

Former FIFA vice-president detained in New York for corruption  of which half was paid in cash.

Martinelli’s  extradition hearing was set by Judge Torres for August 3

Martinelli remains at the Federal Detention Center, which is adjacent to the Southern District of Florida Court in downtown Miami.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/martinelli-calls-20-million-bail-denial-rights-violation

[Dottie Atwater]

Just days before his extradition hearing, he presents this petition. If he is granted bail, does anyone really believe he will show up for the hearing? Twenty million is a drop in the bucket for him.

[Keith Woolford]

On 7/24/2017 at 9:28 PM, Keith Woolford said:

Former President Martinelli is asking the Supreme Court of the U.S. to hold an 'emergency' hearing to hear his claim of 'rights violations'.

Good luck with that.

 

As expected, the U.S. Supreme Court has denied former President Martinelli's case for special treatment in regards to bail and he will remain in jail until his extradition hearing begins on Thursday.

 

[Moderator_02]

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Ex-president mentally prepared” for long extradition battle

Posted on August 1, 2017 in Panama

Post Views: 220

Ex-president Ricardo Martinelli  is “mentally prepared for an extradition lasting “one year minimum” and even to that time in prison, while waiting  for the US Supreme Court to  hear an appeal against a Federal Court ruling refusing him bail.

The statement came from Martinelli spokesman Luis Eduardo Camacho Castro two days before an extradition  a hearing Before  US federal judge Edwin Torres.

Martinelli  has  behind bars in Miami  since June 12. He has been  in the city since 2015 when he fled Panama ahead of multiple criminal charges  and applied for asylum in the United claiming  political persecution by current president  Juan Carlos Varela, who was his vice-president.

In July he presented an emergency  appeal before the Supreme Court,  to assess the legality of the conditions of detention and  the extradition process he is facing in the Southern District Court Of Florida.

The first objective is to invalidate the arguments that Judge Torres has used to deny  bail on two occasions, essentially an antecedent of 1903 which states that this benefit is rarely granted to persons required for extradition.

Supreme Judge Clarence Thomas, appointed in 1991 by George H.W. Bush and considered one of The most conservative judges in the Court, is the one in who will hear the appeal.

The  Martinelli lawyers proposed that  Martinelli’s wife  Marta Linares de Martinelli,post a $ 500,000 bond and that the former president be detained in his Miami  mansion under strict surveillance conditions and with restrictions so that he t cannot travel in boats or planes.  These conditions “eliminate any risk of escape,” say the lawyers in their petition. The Miami judge turned down an earlier $20 million bail offer.

“He is a survivor, a fighter who does not shy away from adversity, but faces the situation, “said Camacho of Martinelli,

He told  Efe  news agency that Martinelli asked from the beginning of his arrest not to be alone and is sharing a cell with a Haitian detainee.

He  appears before the Miami court on August 3.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/ex-president-mentally-prepared-long-extradition-battle

[Moderator_02]

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Miami mayor says “sick” Martinelli needs to be with family

Posted on August 2, 2017 in Panama

Prison garb and cuffs for hearings

Post Views: 188

MIAMI’S, Republican mayor,   Tomás Regalado, has sent a letter on official  letterhead to Judge Edwin Torres of the Southern District Court of Florida requesting bail for ex- president Ricardo Martinelli, detained in Miami since June 12.

In his note to Torres, dated August 1, Regalado says that given his “health problems” Martinelli needs to be at home with his family,  while the court decides whether or not to extradite him to Panama.

The mayor seems to have a close relationship With the ex-president, with whom he has been meeting since he moved to Miami reports La Prensa with his family and set up his office reports La Prensa.

Martinelli has been in Miami since February 2015, when the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) initiated investigations into the unauthorized interception of communications by the National Security Council, in the last two years of his mandate.

On December 21, 2015, the full Court declared him  “in default” for failing to appear at the hearing of charges, which is why they called for his arrest and extradition to the United States. The case has been deeply publicized In US  media.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/miami-mayor-says-sick-martinelli-needs-family

[TwoSailors]

He has some lawyers that are smarter than he is. Keep stalling the decision so the lawyers can rack up big bills for Martinelli to pay. 

[MarieElaine]

2 hours ago, Moderator_02 said:

The mayor seems to have a close relationship With the ex-president, with whom he has been meeting since he moved to Miami reports La Prensa with his family and set up his office reports La Prensa.

Makes one wonder if the Miami mayor is being paid off as well!  Maybe he has been taking lessons from Martinelli ("Teacher") on how to cheat Miami tax payers.

[Moderator_02]

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Martinelli extradition hearing adjourned

Posted on August 3, 2017 in Panama

Post Views: 219

EX-PANAMA PRESIDENT Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) dressed in a prison jump suit and wearing leg irons and handcuffs shuffled into a Miami Court room on Thursday, Aug. 3 to listen to lawyers argue before a Federal judge over a Panama Supreme Court request for his extradition to face political espionage charges.

At the end of the hearing, he was returned to the cell he shares with a Haitian detainee.

His lawyers argued that  The United States cannot legally return him claiming flimsy evidence and flaws in an extradition treaty.

They said key parts of a bilateral extradition treaty went into effect in July 2014, after the alleged criminal conduct happened, and cannot be applied retroactively. They also said evidence of related embezzlement charges is too weak to justify sending him home.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres did not immediately rule and set another hearing for Aug. 22. Martinell has been imprisoned since June 12.

He is accused in Panama of illegally monitoring phone conversations and other communications of at least 150 people with an extensive surveillance system he obtained from an Israeli company using public funds.

His alleged targets included business and political rivals, union activists, journalists, even his mistress.

The embezzlement charges involve more than $13 million in public funds used to set up the illegal system.

Martinelli  is seeking political asylum in the U.S. where he has lived for two years in a Coral Gables  $8.2 million mansion.

His lawyers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to order his release on bail. But the first judge to vote on the application has given it the thumbs down.

Much of Thursday’s argument focused on whether Panama’s extradition treaty with the U.S. could be applied to charges involving the secret surveillance system, which was operating from 2012 to early 2014. A treaty update involving various cyber crimes took effect July 1, the day after Martinelli left office, and the original 1904 treaty between the two nations specifically ruled out a retroactive application to extradite someone for a crime reports the Miami Herald.

Jimenez said that Martinelli, therefore, can’t be sent home. “This is a supplemental treaty. It can’t be retroactively applied,” he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Fels, said the State Department’s position is that the treaty update must be considered retroactive unless its current language rules that out, which it does not.

“The court has to defer to the State Department reading of this treaty,” Fels said.

Dual merit
Judge Torres said he sees merit in both arguments.

“They both make sense to me,”It’s not an insignificant issue I can gloss over.”

Jimenez said the embezzlement allegation was added in Panama in case the treaty issue became an obstacle since embezzlement is a listed extraditable offense in the original 1904 pact.

“It’s a tacked-on, trumped-up, manufactured charge,” Jimenez said.

Fels countered that the proof is ample and could result in a conviction if the same case were brought in a U.S. court.  “He was behind this whole thing,” he said.

The Martinelli hearing was held across the street from the courthouse where, Manuel Noriega, was tried and convicted of drug trafficking after the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama says the Miami Herald Noriega served his sentence in a prison south of Miami and died in May in Panama after being in an induced coma following brain surgery.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/martinelli-extradition-hearing-adjourned

[Keith Woolford]

The U.S. State Department has rejected former President Martinelli's legal team's argument that the Extradition treaty between Panama and the U.S.  is invalid.

This week's efforts also include a request for a different jail because he's being unduly harassed or bullied by a supervisor at the facility where he's currently being held, and the plea from the Mayor of Miami that Martinelli is sick and should be living with his family.

https://www.tvn-2.com/nacionales/Departamento-rechaza-defensa-ricardo-Martinelli-eeuu-pinchazos-panama_0_4818268188.html

Edited August 4, 2017 by Keith Woolford

[Moderator_02]

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EXTRADITION: Martinelli lawyers try to block witness statement

Posted on August 6, 2017 in Panama

 

Martinelli in Miami, before his arrest

Post Views: 143

DEFENSE  lawyers for fugitive former president Ricardo Martinelli who has been behind bars in Miami since June 12, continue to earn their keep in Panama.

In their latest move  to block the extradition of their client to face trial for illegal surveillance of over 150 political opponents, journalists, critics, business opponents,  and his mistress, they have  presented before the Supreme Court  an Amparo of constitutional guarantees aiming  to render ineffective part of the evidence included by Panama in the petition  seeking Martinelli’s extradition filed with the US Government.

The January 17 note contained statements by the former National Security Council (CSN)  operative Ismael Pittí, detailing how the espionage system established by Martinelli operated.

The appeal was assigned to Judge Jerónimo Mejía, Judge of guarantees in the process against Martinelli for crimes against the inviolability of secrecy and the right to privacy.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/extradition-martinelli-lawyers-try-block-witness-statement

[Keith Woolford]

Looks like the ex President is going to have his request met to be held in a different institution.

 

[Moderator_02]

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Panama’s ex-president switches jails

Posted on August 9, 2017 in Panama

 

Trouble with a prison guard

Post Views: 182

PANAMA’S FORMER  president, Ricardo Martinelli, awaiting an extradition hearing in Miami is moving to a different jail where he will have less privacy.

Judge Edwin Torres authorized the change of detention center, at the request of Martinelli’s lawyers, on Wednesday, August 9.

Martinelli was part of a violent incident with one of the prison guards and has been reprimanded for misconduct.

In the new detention center, visits are a “privilege” reserved for regular inmates on Friday evening (5-8: 30 pm), Saturday, Sunday (8 am – 2:30 pm) and Monday (5-8: 30 pm).

Telephone calls (except legal calls) are recorded and monitored and must be collect calls or with a pre-paid TRU-links account.

In this prison, there is no privacy, since inmates dress, shower and use the bathroom in the company of others. Everyone is required to make their bunk beds and keep their personal possessions in order. They wear identical clothing and carry their ID card at all times.

Currently, Martinelli is required by the Panamanian Supreme Court for the alleged case of telephone “pinchazos” of more than 150 people during his administration.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/panamas-ex-president-switches-jails

[Keith Woolford]

The U.S. Prosecutors representing Panama in Miami are appealing the decision to move him out of the correctional centre where he's being held, arguing among other things, that minimum security facilities are only for convicts, not those awaiting trial.  Visits are limited and might restrict the ability to prepare his defense.

http://www.telemetro.com/casosmartinelli/Fiscales-suspender-traslado-Martinelli-seguridad_0_1052895513.html

Edited August 12, 2017 by Keith Woolford

[Moderator_02]

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Martinelli to run for party leadership, fight “dictatorship”

Posted on August 14, 2017 in Panama

 

Ricardo Martinelli at an Odebrecht funded CD rally

Post Views: 157

PANAMA’S  ex-president, Ricardo Martinelli, currently behind bars in Miami, will be running for leadership of the party he founded to enable his presidential ambitions.

From the  Cambio Democratico (CD) party’s headquarters in Obarrio, Luis Eduardo Camacho  Camachó  said that Martinelli’s public and civil rights are intact, as well as his leadership. “The leader of the opposition in this country is called Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal,” he said at a Monday, Aug. 14 press conference.

“There is nothing that prevents Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal from being nominated to be reelected as president of CD,” said Camacho, while recalling that there is no impediment for the former president to aspire to a position of popular election, With the exception of the presidency of the Republic.

When asked about the criminal situation of Martinelli and the extradition hearing he will face on August 23, Camacho said that the former president has full confidence in the respect of the rule of law in the United States, where he came after his rights Were “trampled” in Panama. reports La Estrella.

For Camacho, the government of President Varela, has been dedicated to “persecuting  Ricardo Martinelli and the CD”, even reaching the levels of a “military dictatorship”, with a Public Prosecutor (MP) that considers that she has been employed as a political tool.

“The dictatorship of Juan Carlos Varela, exercised through the MP, employs kidnapping as a tool of political persecution,” he said, referring to the provisional arrest of Silvana Manzini de Obarrio on August 8.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/martinelli-run-party-leadership-fight-dictatorship

[Keith Woolford]

On 6/6/2017 at 4:08 PM, Moderator_02 said:

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/moves-block-martinelli-helicopter-seizure

Well, that appeal didn't work. The Supreme Court says his chopper's gone.

 

Edited August 18, 2017 by Keith Woolford

[Keith Woolford]

On 8/11/2017 at 8:02 PM, Keith Woolford said:

The U.S. Prosecutors representing Panama in Miami are appealing the decision to move him out of the correctional centre where he's being held, arguing among other things, that minimum security facilities are only for convicts, not those awaiting trial.  Visits are limited and might restrict the ability to prepare his defense.

http://www.telemetro.com/casosmartinelli/Fiscales-suspender-traslado-Martinelli-seguridad_0_1052895513.html

Miami Judge Edwin Torres reversed his decision to move Martinelli to a minimum security institution and he'll be staying put.

http://www.telemetro.com/casosmartinelli/Juez-EEUU-cambiar-prision-Martinelli_0_1054395545.html

[Moderator_02]

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OFF THE CUFF: Italian city wants keys back from Martinelli

Posted on August 18, 2017 in Off The Cuff, Panama

 

From key holder to persona non grata

Post Views: 173

LUCCA the Italian city that is the ancestral home of  the family  of Panama’s ex-president, Ricardo Martinelli is looking to get  back the keys of the city which they gave to him in 2009, the year he took office.

Now another key  has turned and Martinelli sits in a cell in a Miami detention center, awaiting extradition initially to face wiretapping charges, with a raft of other corruption investigations waiting in the shadows.

The city fathers believe that he is not a good example for the city’s image, and he has moved from honored son to persona non grata.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/off-cuff-italian-city-wants-keys-back-martinelli

[Moderator_02]

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Martinelli faces crunch hearing Wednesday

Posted on August 19, 2017 in Panama

Post Views: 149

“MANY”  of the arguments put forward by defense lawyers of Panama’s former president to save him from extradition, lack merit says the US Attorney’s Office.

At the  Miami extradition hearing of Ricardo Marinelli on Wednesday, Aug.23 they will ask the court to avoid extradition and certify his delivery to the State Department for transfer to Panama.

Martinelli (2009-2014), faces four counts related to ” illegal interception of communications and embezzlement “.

“The arguments of Martinelli Berrocal in opposition to the certification of his extractability by this court, “many of which have been repeated in multiple presentations, “are without merit,” according to prosecutor Adam Fels in response to  defense allegations.

In the 40-page document, to which Efe News agency had access   Fels raises in four points the viability of the extradition of Martinelli, who has been detaine  in Miami, since June 12.

Fels said that the defense, “has presented no valid reason why the Court should decide deny certification” Fels said that crimes related to wiretaps are extraditable and in the case of embezzlement “there is evidence” that rejects the argument that they were not bought with public money.

“Surveillance offenses are extraditable,” Fels said, saying the  defense lacks a “valid legal or factual basis” in that sense.

Embezzlement
He emphasized that both surveillance “were owned by the Panamanian Government, and the misuse and conversion of either of the two systems is sufficient to establish the probable cause of embezzlement.

He described as “without merit” the argument that due process had not been carried out, and emphasized that “Panama has complied with the request for arrest” provided for in the Extradition Treaty, signed in 1904, which was included as an additional document.

“Martinelli Berrocal’s attempts to challenge the credibility of the Prosecutors in both the United States and Panama are devoid of substance, “Fels said.

He considers that the allegations made by Martinelli’s defense on corruption “are irrelevant. ”

For the purposes of an extradition proceeding, the Court is “bound by the existence of an extradition to suppose that the trial (of the fugitive) will be just, “he added.

Martinelli’s defense, says that the request for extradition “lacks support”, with  There is no evidence that he has committed crimes and that “the extradition of Martinelli is for retroactive, non-extraditable offenses “.

Martinelli will appear before Judge Edwin G. Torres.

The former president has been living in Miami since 2015 and has been raising an asylum application since that year, allegeing that he is a persecuted politician by his former vice president, Juan Carlos Varela, now president of Panama.

Martinelli, has been denied requests for bail,  including offering a $10 million bond.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/martinelli-faces-crunch-hearing-wednesday

[Keith Woolford]

Former President Martinelli's fourth and final appearance in Miami is scheduled for tomorrow. It's expected that Judge Edwin Torres will approve his extradition.

http://laestrella.com.pa/panama/nacional/martinelli-comparecera-este-miercoles-audiencia-final-extradicion/24018949

[Moderator_02]

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Martinelli extradition ruling on Aug 31

Posted on August 23, 2017 in Panama

 

Ricardo Martinelli

Post Views: 123

EX-PANAMA PRESIDENT Ricardo Martinelli returned to his cell in A Miami Detention center   on Wednesday August 22  after a final  court hearing lasting a little over an hour  before US Federal Judge Edwin Torres to determine whether he will be extradited to Panama  or remain in the USA to continue his attempt at gaining political asylum.

He, and the citizens of Panama will have to wait until Thursday August 31 for the judge’s ruling.

He appeared in court manacled and wearing prison uniform ,and gestured to supporters.

If extradited and convicted of illegal wiretapping  and embezzlement Martinelli could face a jail term of up to 20 years with a dozen other potential corruption charges involving scores of millions of dollars waiting in the wings.

He has been in detention since his arrest near his  $8.2 million Coral Gable mansion on June 12.

The postponement of Judge Torres’s decision is due to the lack of an English translation of an affidavit of  Panama attorney Roberto Moreno, who acts as a defense expert. Moreno’s statement was introduced the night before the hearing.

Martinelli’s defense has until the beginning of next week to deliver the translated affidavit.

If the judge decides that Martinelli should be extradited, it could be months before he is transported to Panama during which time he would remain in custody.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/martinelli-extradition-ruling-aug-31

[Moderator_02]

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Martinelli’s future  known on Thursday

Posted on August 27, 2017 in Panama

 

La Prensa's take on the rise and fall of Martinelli

Post Views: 116

CORRUPTION watchers from around the world, spearheaded by Transparency International will  be awaiting the  Thursday, Aug.31 decision of the South Florida judge handling Panama’s  request for the extradition of ex-president  Ricardo Martinelli to face a  wiretapping and embezzlement trial which if found guilty could see him behind bars for decades, with multiple other corruption charges waiting in the wings.

If the judge decides to hand him over, the bureaucratic formalities could take months but Martinelli would remain in detention. If extradition is denied,  he could be exchanging his sparse cell for the comforts of his $8.2 million Coral Gables mansion, and celebrate the verdict with fresh access to his Twitter account and a call for political asylum in the US.

The decision will also impact on the future of the Democratic Change (CD) party he created to pave his way to the presidential palace, and to the password to the Panama branch of Aladdin’s cave. Some 40 others, who also knew the magic phrase are currently wending their way through Panama’s laborious justice system.

Meanwhile Transparency International, which believes that rulers should be forced to pay for their sins, locally described as “irregularities, ” promises a full commentary on Friday and we will know if  the La Prensa political cartoonist will need a new emoticon to explain the status  of the former Panama autocrat.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/martinellis-future-known-thursday

[Moderator_02]

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Bad signals if Martinelli ruled non-extraditable

Posted on August 30, 2017 in Panama

Post Views: 233

THE DECISION of a  South Florida judge on the future of Panama’s fugitive ex-President Ricardo Martinelli will be announced in a Miami Court room on Thursday, March 31.

If he is not declared legally extraditable the decision will not reflect well on the United States according to prominent Panama jurist. Ernesto Cedeño, consulted by La Estrella de Panamá.

“The message that the US could give if it declared him not extraditable would be contradictory to what it is asking worldwide in requesting the extradition of Julian Assange and Snowden allegedly involved in illegal hacking”  he told La Estrella .

The jurist said that it would not be congruent that the US, after requesting the extradition of these characters alleging violations of privacy, does not proceed to grant it in the case of Martinelli, ensuring that it would not be well seen in the eyes of the world. “More than legality, what is in play is state policy and state transparency,” he said.

If he  is declared legally extraditable, it would be discussed whether or not he will  be detained during the time the Department of State investigates the case.

Martinelli – now thinner and without beard – has been detained since June 12 at the  Miami Federal Detention Center and has kept  the national authorities waiting for his return to Panama to face trial in the  Supreme Court for alleged illegal surveillance of some 150 Panamanian citizens.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/bad-signals-martinelli-ruled-non-extraditable