The judges in charge of the trial of the pinchazos case denied this noon the request of the defense of former president Ricardo Martinelli about the suspension of the oral trial for 10 days to review the evidence presented by the Public Ministry.
The request of Martinelli's lawyers, which led to an open recess on the second day of the trial, highlighted that they needed access to the evidence presented by the prosecutors. This request was approved by the judges; however, the suspension of the hearing was denied.
Following this decision, the defense of the ex-president indicated that they had not been given copies of the evidence that the Prosecutor's Office had presented, nor the previous ones, nor the new documentary or testimonial evidence that they had presented.
"The decision is that it be delivered, for us it is important ... Unlike the Public Ministry, we have to analyze these elements on the trial. We only have 5 CDs of more than 20 ... computers, compact discs, to which the defense has not had access. In addition, the director of Legal Medicine, Vicente Pachar, had initially denied the defense, having met with a witness ... then he conditioned him and gave the authorization," Lui Eduardo Camacho González, from the defense of the ex-president, pointed out.
A member of the Prosecutor's Office corroborated the decision of the judges and added that Martinelli's defense had access to the evidence in the last trial.
"There is a situation ... they said yesterday that they did not have access to the expert to prepare him for the trial. Both the experts and the witnesses are from the process, not from the Public Ministry. It is a voluntary decision of the process to meet with the defense or not. All the evidence that was admitted ... the defense had access to all the evidence," added the prosecution.
The prosecution announced that the evidentiary release is expected in the afternoon.
Prosecutor González had previously indicated that he would present a witness who would give the judges an idea of how the National Security Council works.
Regarding this action, the prosecutor added that a person familiar with the interiors of this Council was brought in and indicated that it is important that the judges who carry out the trial assume this concept, however González clarified that this is not a protected witness.
Former President Martinelli arrived early in the morning, who refused to discuss the agreements made with three of the six complainants and once again indicated that this process was a waste of time and that it was a political trial.
The former president denied knowing the role of the Security Council and also the
Pegasus software, which is currently causing a worldwide stir by spying on journalists, politicians, leaders and high-profile figures.
However, an hour after the start of the hearing, he withdrew arguing health problems and it was stated that he would continue in the hearing through Zoom, as initially expected.
It should be noted that on the first day of the hearing, the parties supported the theory of the case.