THE MIAMI court hearing that will decide if ex-president Ricardo Marinelli will be shipped back to Panama to face trials for wiretapping and embezzlement has been delayed once again. 

It will now be held on January 23. After the CD Party elections on January 21, when the jailed  Martinelli will be vying to retain leadership of the CD party he founded to further his political ambitions.

The information was confirmed to TVN News on Thursday, January 4 by Sidney Sitton, part of Martinelli’s expansive legal team.

This is the second time that the hearing, has been delayed. Martinelli's defense will deliver the

arguments of the habeas corpus appeal filed before a Miami court.

It had been scheduled for January, 16 by Judge Marcia G. Cooke of the Federal Court of the Southern District of Florida.

The legal team of the former president in the United States presented the habeas corpus on September 28 in an attempt to dismiss the decision of Federal Judge Edwin G. Torres, who determined the extradition of Martinelli to answer for the case of wiretapping during his Government.

When he appears, Martinelli will have been detained for seven months in the Miami Detention Center, awaiting a response from the US Department of State regarding his possible shipment to Panama.