Alejandro Pérez, from the team of lawyers of former President Ricardo Martinelli, filed a criminal complaint on the afternoon of  Thursday, April 7, against the presiding magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice, María Eugenia López Arias , for the alleged commission of crimes against the administration of justice and against public servants.

Pérez bases his complaint on alleged pressure from López Arias to alter the calendar of the hearings and set the date of the trial followed by Martinelli, for the punctures case.

He also accuses her of "accelerating" procedural phases and of ignoring stages of legal and regulatory procedures with the intention of continuing with what he called a "persecution" against Martinelli.

The lawyer pointed out that these alleged actions affect Martinelli's electoral chances in the presidential elections of May 2024. The former president, on several occasions, has proclaimed that he "has" to win the said election.

The punctures case says La Prensa is the name commonly given to the unauthorized interceptions that were carried out by the National Security Council (CSN) in the last two years of the Martinelli government (2012-2014). For these events, two former directors of the CSN were sentenced to 60 months in prison each, but Martinelli was acquitted last November.

Pérez maintains that Judge López Arias has ignored the application of the specialty principle in favor of his client. The United States Department of State has said that this principle is not valid for Martinelli, but on March 22, magistrates Heriberto Araúz and Alfredo Juncá, of the Electoral Tribunal (TE), decided otherwise. This decision has been sued for unconstitutional and Araúz and Juncá are sued for alleged excess of functions.

It is not the first time that a Martinelli lawyer has taken action against López Arias. A year ago, the complaint for alleged "manifest enmity."