• Submitted by: admin
• Caribbean
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• Politics and Government
• 07 / 16 / 2008

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Judge Hilda Bonilla de Vidal presented a request for extradition to the Public Prosecutor of the First Circuit Court of Panama, reported the Panamanian newspaper La Prensa, a move legal sources say seeks to force the Public Ministry to issue a statement and initiate the process.

The petition was first presented to the Fifth Penal Court on July 4 by a group of lawyers representing trade unions, indigenous organizations and student movements.

Five days earlier, on June 30, the Supreme Court of Panama issued a unanimous ruling stating the presidential pardons issued to these criminals by former President Mireya Moscoso, on August 24, 2004 —one week before concluding her mandate—, were unconstitutional. The court also decreed that the decision is retroactive and that those who benefited by the pardons must return to their prior status.

Posada Carriles, Gaspar Jimenez, Guillermo Novo and Pedro Remon were arrested in Panama in November 2000 at the 10th Ibero-American Summit for conspiring to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro during an address at the University of Panama.

Lawyers Julio Berios, Rafael Rodriguez and Ascanio Morales, representing the plaintiffs, say their cases were never closed.

(Granma)