Accused in Spying Case, Ex-Panama President Fights Extradition in Miami
"Of course he left Panama — they have a corrupt judicial system." Defense lawyers asked Judge Torres to throw out the extradition request, arguing, among other things,
that Mr. Martinelli has immunity as a former president and as a current member of the Central American Parliament, and that the arrest warrant from Panama was invalid because of serious procedural missteps.
Ismael Pitti admitted that It could remotely control the microphone and the camera on certain telephone models,
"And most of them are a lot more serious than listening in to conversations, which is serious enough." In court, Mr. Jiménez, a former
United States attorney in Miami, presented an interview of one of the magistrates in the case in Panama against Mr. Martinelli.
By FRANCES ROBLESJUNE 20, 2017
MIAMI — The former president of Panama faced a federal magistrate judge in Miami on Tuesday, in a plea to stay out of jail and fight extradition on charges
that he "commandeered" sophisticated wiretapping gear to listen in on political enemies, business rivals and even a mistress.
"With these capabilities, we could obtain photographs and record ‘background audio,’ in other words, conversations of people close to the telephone." But Mr. Pitti’s former boss at the National Security Council, Ronny Rodríguez, submitted an affidavit disputing the accusations and saying
that the new administration in Panama had offered him a job in Washington if he incriminated the former president.
that This may be the only extradition case in history where the country seeking extradition is being led by
a man who is not only a political opponent of the defendant but was publicly and notoriously fired by him,