Former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli should be extradited to face wiretapping charges, a Miami judge ruled Wednesday.
Martinelli was arrested in Coral Gables and fought to stay in Florida after he was accused of using publicly owned equipment to monitor political opponents, journalists and business competitors during his presidency, which lasted from 2009 to 2014. His legal team, led by former U.S. Attorney Marcos Jimenez, argued the alleged offenses were not extraditable because surveillance crimes weren’t added to the treaty governing U.S.-Panama relations until 2014.
