Ricardo  Martinelli, Panama’s ex-president returned to the Supreme Court on Wednesday Aug. 29 for the intermediate hearing of his illegal wiretapping case. The ex-ruler who has been out of the limelight  since the case was adjourned on August 6 took little interest in the proceedings which could end up with a lengthy jail term and continued catching up with his reading as lawyers traded barbs  before the judge of guarantees Jerónimo Mejía

The ex-ruler who has been out of the limelight  since the case was adjourned on August 6 took little interest in the proceedings which could end up with a lengthy jail term and continued catching up with his reading as lawyers traded barbs  before the judge of guarantees Jerónimo Mejía

During the adjournment Carlos Carrillo, coordinator of the defense team was granted access to seven files containing illegal recordings and transcripts. He immediately presented objections to the use of the recordings by the prosecution saying that the defense considers the evidence illegal.

Carlos Herrera Morán, attorney for complainant Mauro Zúñiga, said that the new objections are another "desperate actions” by Martinelli's defense that invents that the recordings and the corresponding transcripts are illegal to discredit them. "

He assured that the recordings recovered by the prosecution comply with the rules of the chain of custody and are an important part of the process currently in the Court. and said the objection of illegality has no legal basis.

In the last hearing, Judge Mejía granted Martinelli's defense access to the booklets, under a special regulation, to avoid leakage of the information that appears there.

The seven booklets had been kept in reserve since the beginning of the process.

Martinelli has been in detention in El Renacer prison since June 11, when he was extradited from a Miami  Federal detention center that housed him for a year after his arrest near his luxury mansion in Coral Gables. [story developing]