Legal representatives of the former president of Panama Ricardo Martinelli, convicted of corruption in his country, filed an appeal for reconsideration before the Electoral Court against the agency’s decision to disqualify him from participating in the presidential elections in May.
Martinelli, who is in the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama City after his request for asylum in that country was accepted, was a favorite for the elections, but the organization announced on Monday that he was disqualified from entering the electoral race.
“We are waiting for the respective evaluations and considerations, although we already know that they are not going to change that decision,” said lawyer Alma Cortés, who clarified that her strategy is to exhaust internal legal instances to be able to resort to international ones later.
The Electoral Tribunal was not immediately available to comment on the appeal and the procedures after its presentation.
Martinelli insists that he is innocent and that the 128-month prison sentence that a judge imposed on him in mid-2023 is part of a political persecution, which is denied by his rivals.
The former president was sentenced for his participation in the New Business case, a plot that includes the irregular purchase of a media conglomerate with public funds. The court has issued two arrest warrants against him in the last two weeks.
The Panamanian government has denied the former president, a 71-year-old supermarket businessman who governed between 2009 and 2014, safe passage to travel to Nicaragua.
Martinelli’s spokesman, Luís Eduardo Camacho, stated that the former ruler’s defense seeks with the appeal to send a message that he is active amid pressure from political and government sectors.
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