Guatemala rejects request to extradite Ricardo and Luis Martinelli Linares to Panama

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Guatemala’s Canal Antigua reported that the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) of that country had rejected the request for extradition of Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, submitted by Panama last August.

The information was also confirmed by Rony Ríos, of El Periódico de Guatemala, who added that the Panamanian request was rejected, without a hearing, for two reasons: one that Guatemalan law dictates that the first request received, in this case from the United States must be resolved, and two, that Guatemala does not have an extradition treaty with Panama.

Panama’s request came a year after the United States requested Guatemala to capture and hand over the children of former President Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Guatemala

The arrest took place on July 6, 2020, at La Aurora airport. Since then, they remain in the Mariscal Zavala military prison, from where they have filed several legal appeals and appealed to an alleged diplomatic immunity to avoid being sent to the United States.

The Third Court of Criminal Cases, in charge of Baloisa Marquínez, is requesting the presence of the Martinelli Linares brothers in Panama to answer for the bribes paid by State contractors to Panamanian officials (Blue Apple case). The court has yet to decide whether to call 51 people to trial for alleged money laundering.

On August 9, Judge Marquinez sent to the Panamanian Foreign Ministry a request for preventive detention for extradition purposes of the “citizens” Martinelli Linares. On August 10, the court’s injunction was processed “through diplomatic channels, for presentation to the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry”.

Although Panama’s request was formally received, the secretary-general of the Guatemalan Attorney General’s Office, Angel Pineda, announced on August 30 that the handover to the United States was imminent. “We know that it is in the final phase for the corresponding resolution for extradition to be issued,” he said. Pineda made these statements in Panama during a regional meeting of prosecutors.

The United States requested the extradition on July 3, 2020.

Recently, Guatemala’s First Criminal Court of Appeals ruled against appeals presented by the legal defense of Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, which would give the definitive green light to move forward with the extradition to the United States. Meanwhile, the case of his brother, Ricardo Alberto, will continue to be suspended pending the resolution of two appeals.

The United States requested the capture and extradition of the sons of former President Martinelli for the alleged commission of several crimes related to money laundering before the Eastern District Court of New York.

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