Court Postpones Fisher Hearing Due to Judge's Dual Role

Lawyer Basilio González warns that this case has no legal basis, which would mean a waste of time, although he acknowledges that the hearing will allow to know what happened during the administration of Juan Carlos Varela and Kenya Porcell. Lawyers have warned that Marquínez's dual role goes against the protocols of the Judicial Branch. Additionally, the Brazilians requested clarification on the judicial assistance request made by Panama, and this was not done. This controversial situation adds to other irregularities exposed throughout this process, whose hearing has been postponed five times. It should also not be forgotten that the evidence that the Public Ministry intends to use has been declared inadmissible in other instances, such as the Brazilian one, where this case originated. González believes that, as happened in the previous hearing, the prosecution's witnesses will not appear, which would become another nullity of the 20 already identified in the file composed of 2,846 volumes, contributing to a new suspension, the responsibility for which falls on whoever appointed Marquínez to two different cases with close hearings. The Judicial Branch reported this Thursday that the Trial Court that develops the Fisher case decided to suspend for a few days the holding of this trial, because Judge Baloisa Marquínez will have to preside over the hearing of the Odebrecht case, set for Monday, January 12, 2026. Marquínez is the rapporteur in the Fisher case, she is the one who leads the schedule of everything developed in this hearing, which will now be set aside to make way for Odebrecht, a case marked by multiple anomalies. This dual role would have been assigned at the time by María Eugenia López, former president of the Court.