Desperate to avoid a retrial  for  alleged political espionage former president Ricardo Martinelli made a last gasp attempt on Tuesday  June 29  to stave off  the hearing set for July 5.

The three judges that make up the court unanimously rejected a request presented by the former president that would have removed them from the case.

The judges Iveth Francois Vega, Jennifer Saavedra Naranjo, and Marisol Osorio Leyton rejected “as inadmissible” a “nullity warning” presented by Alma Cortés, Martinelli's defender, since -according to the judges- the lawyer's claim does not explain how the appointment of the court of oral trial constitutes a vice or represents some damage to him.

The notice of nullity had originally been presented before the Superior Court of Appeals, which refused to hear the request and sent the file to the Oral Trial Court, for its attention.

The three judges are part of the Trial Court of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama, since it took office on September 2, 2016, with the entry into force of the adversarial criminal system in the province of Panama. Therefore, the court that they make up to try Martinelli is not "special or exceptional, therefore, it does not violate the principle of a natural judge."

Iveth Francois Vega, Jennifer Saavedra Naranjo, and Marisol Osorio Leyton were assigned to form the court in the oral trial of Martinelli, on June 11.

On several occasions  Martinelli has tried to suspend the trial, claiming that the case be prescribed or that the charges were never formally imputed. These arguments have been consistently rejected by the judges and magistrates. The last time occurred on June 28, when the Superior Court of Appeals once again rejected an appeal based on the alleged lack of imputation of the former president.

The case, according to the courts, will prescribe in early 2022.