Ten plaintiffs must appear on April 29 in the trial against former members of the National Security Council (CSN) Roony Rodríguez and William Pittí, accused of carrying out illegal wiretaps during the administration of former President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014).
This stems from case No. 278, filed on March 27 in the First Liquidating Court of Criminal Cases, which notifies the date of the trial. The edict was issued after both Rodríguez and Pittí turned themselves in the day before at the headquarters of the Judicial Investigation Directorate (DIJ).
Both accused remained fugitives for over 10 years, after the Public Ministry issued arrest warrants in December 2014 for alleged wiretaps of 150 people, including political leaders, workers, students, deputies, and journalists.
Among the plaintiffs listed in the court's original case file are the current presidential advisor Miguel Antonio Bernal; former deputy Zulay Rodríguez and her husband Álvaro Testa; leader of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) Mitchell Doens and former president Ernesto Pérez Balladares.
Also on the list are the current PRD general secretary Balbina Herrera; also a PRD member, Francisco Sánchez Cárdenas; Bernabé Pérez; deputy from the Panameñista Party, José Luis Varela; current Minister of the Environment, Juan Carlos Navarro; former CSN director, Rolando López; teachers' leader Yadira Pino; lawyer Rosendo Rivera and journalist Rubén Polanco.
The group of plaintiffs also mentioned the current Minister of Commerce and Industry, Julio Moltó, but his lawyer Franklin Amaya sent a note to the court stating that the minister is not a party to this case.
The Public Ministry's investigation revealed that the espionage operations were carried out from building 150 of the CSN, located in Ancón, in an office with restricted access where a sophisticated system for intercepting phone calls and accessing the emails of targets was operated.
It was during the administration of former President Juan Carlos Varela (2014-2019) that the spy center's operation was revealed, and an investigation was initiated in which several witnesses pointed to Rodríguez and Pittí as the individuals responsible for the wiretaps.
According to the Specialized Prosecutor's Office against Organized Crime, Rodríguez and Pittí did not report to the ordinary structure of the CSN.
Rodríguez and Pittí were not tried at the time because they were fugitives.
Former President Ricardo Martinelli was also tried, but a trial court declared him not guilty.
Rodríguez and Pittí will face a second trial for the alleged crime of embezzlement, due to the loss of the wiretapping machine that was in the CSN offices.
Their chain of command went directly to the Executive Secretariat of the institution and, according to the file of the Specialized High Prosecutor's Office against Organized Crime, it reached the Presidency of the Republic.
For this case, former CSN directors Gustavo Pérez and Alejandro Garúz were sentenced to 50 months in prison.
For this case, the court set a trial date for April 20.
