Stewart Tuttle head of mission of the United States embassy in Panama said on Tuesday that a Panama judge’s extradition request to Guatemala "would not affect in any way" the extradition process of Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares to the United States.

Baloisa Marquínez The judge in the Blue Apple case requested the extradition of the Martinelli Linares brothers.

“I understand that these cases are actually handled in order of priority. In other words, whoever asks first has the right to take the subject, if [extradition] is approved. So we are not worried about that,” Tuttle told journalist Edwin Cabrera on La Tipika station.

The United States requested extradition to Guatemala on July 3, 2020.

"If Panama wanted to have the opportunity to bring them to trial here, they will have that right, after those men spend the necessary time in a North American jail for the crimes they have committed," added Tuttle.

The request to extradite Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares to Panama has not yet reached Guatemala reports La Prensa.

on Tuesday, August 10, Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes said that on Monday afternoon she received a notification of the request for the children of former President Ricardo Martinelli, to attend the trial for bribery in the Blue Apple case. The trial began on August 5, and that day the judge notified the court that she had requested preventive detention and extradition on July 4, 2021.

The Martinelli Linares brothers were arrested in Guatemala on July 6, 2020, because the United States requested their extradition, on various charges related to money laundering.