THE DECISION of a  South Florida judge on the future of Panama’s fugitive ex-President Ricardo Martinelli will be announced in a Miami Court room on Thursday, March 31.

If he is not declared legally extraditable the decision will not reflect well on the United States according to prominent Panama jurist. Ernesto Cedeño, consulted by La Estrella de Panamá.

"The message that the US could give if it declared him not extraditable would be contradictory to what it is asking worldwide in requesting the extradition of Julian Assange and Snowden allegedly involved in illegal hacking"  he told La Estrella .

The jurist said that it would not be congruent that the US, after requesting the extradition of these characters alleging violations of privacy, does not proceed to grant it in the case of Martinelli, ensuring that it would not be well seen in the eyes of the world. "More than legality, what is in play is state policy and state transparency," he said.

If he  is declared legally extraditable, it would be discussed whether or not he will  be detained during the time the Department of State investigates the case.

Martinelli - now thinner and without beard - has been detained since June 12 at the  Miami Federal Detention Center and has kept  the national authorities waiting for his return to Panama to face trial in the  Supreme Court for alleged illegal surveillance of some 150 Panamanian citizens.

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