Court issues fines for inmate arriving too late to court; 16th July 2019.
Updated: Nov 12, 2019
Judge slaps fines on prison boss and lawyer in the murder trial. We at Panama Human rights would like to know why more cases like this are not happening in Panama. Thousands of prisoners have waited 5 + years with numerous cases cancelled either by judges not turning up, or police with no vehicles to take inmates to court. In Panama, it seems you will only get a fair trial if you are a high profile case and killed someone.
This inmate turned up an hour late to court and the director of La Joya was slapped with a $250 fine, what about the other inmates who have been waiting years and had numerous trials cancelled, they have a human right and that right is “The right to a fair trial”!
Judge of guarantees, Viterbo Quintero, in a high profile murder trial fined the director of La Joya prison, Luis Mendoza, for the late transfer of the accused Hidadis Santos, to the Accusatory Criminal System, where he is on trial.
Santos is accused of killing Eduardo Calderón, whose room in the El Panama hotel, allegedly the site of a threesome, was paid by the priest David Cosca.
The judge applied the fine of $ 250 to Mendoza because Hidadis has reached the courtroom more than an hour late, during the 8 days of the trial.
During the hearing on a Friday morning August 16, the judge also fined the lawyer Holland Polo, defender of Santos, $500 for not presenting the certification of some evidence. The lawyer filed reconsideration, and the judge decreed a recess to resolve the request.