Marta Martinelli files lawsuit

Journalists from La Prensa appeared yesterday at a hearing in the Second Family Court following a lawsuit filed by Marta Linares de Martinelli,

Marta Linares de Martinelli, former first lady of the Republic, demands through a lawsuit filed in a family court that the media - written, television, radio and social media - but especially La Prensa, cease and refrain from publishing facts and situations of a private nature, "as part of a campaign to discredit the members of this Panamanian family."

In the demand for "family protection", Linares de Martinelli makes reference to several publications made by five journalists of the press that links Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, her children, to the Odebrecht case.

Following this action, journalists Rolando Rodríguez, associate director of La Prensa; Eliana Morales, editor of Politics; Yolanda Sandoval, editor of Economy; and Olmedo Rodríguez and Juan Manuel Díaz, Judicial reporters, went yesterday to the Second Family Sectional Court to testify as witnesses.

In the court, the journalists supported why this news was relevant and of public interest.

"The intention of this lawsuit is for the media to refrain from mentioning the name of the Martinelli Linares family because of the cases that are being carried out in the courts ... It is absurd that the Martinelli family does  not want to be mentioned when it is already of public knowledge’’ "said Rodríguez.

One of the news quotes was from lawyer Jamis Acosta which was published on April 25th 2017, was the tiite: Millionaire investment in Spain by Ricardo Martinelli Linares.

According Martinelli’s lawyer, there  "is a lack of respect and an outrage to private life and especially to the person’s life", when saying the following: "because Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Linares and his sentimental partner, Marco Giovanelli, of Italian nationality , were buying an apartment in Madrid "

The lawsuit mentions another piece of news, dated January 23, 2017, entitled: Switzerland freezes accounts to Martinelli brothers. According to the plaintiff, "it is clearly reflected that the newspaper did not disguise its desire to sully the image of anyone who carries the surname Martinelli Linares without discrimination of one with the other of the components of this family nucleus."