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Leis, The sad case of Santander Tristán

The sad case of Santander Tristán

by Raúl Leis R. --- (raulleisr@hotmail.com)

The Santander Tristán case is cause not only for sadness but for indignation, as it’s demonstrative of Panamanian justice’s malaise, wherein honest people are persecuted while many dishonest people are free and don’t feel any pressure from justice and they go freely about their way protected by the armor of impunity.

When entities like the National Lawyers Union, the National Journalists Association, the Catholic Church’s Justice and Peace Commission, The Panamanian Constitutional Law Association, Peace University, the Universidad Latina de Ciencia y Tecnologia, the United Civic Association, Faith and Joy, the Center for Human Rights Research and Promotion, the Jesuit Refugee Service, the Darien Economic Solidarity Center, the Center for Social Promotion and Action in Veraguas, the Embera-Wounaan General Congress, the Kuna General Congress, the Colon Communities Coordinator for Land and Life, the June 9 Campesino Union in Cocle, the Coordinator for the Rescue of the Santa Maria River and Land in Veraguas, the Cooperative Esperanza de los Campesinos in Veragaus, the Panama Center for Social Studies and Action, the Popular Legal Assistance Center --- among others important organizations of Panamanian civil society --- sign an open letter to the president of the republic it’s because they’re crying out for justice, asking to be heard.

The letter reads as follows:

“The organizations signing this letter have decided to make known our great concern about the unjust results of the criminal proceedings against Santander Tristán Donoso, a committed human rights leader in our country.

“Despite the efforts made before the judicial system due to the violation of his human rights to privacy, freedom of expression and due process of law in attorney Tristán Donoso’s case, constitutional challenges have been used to thwart investigations of acts injurious to the Panamanian nation and these efforts have thus been ineffective and haven’t been admitted by the Supreme Court of Justice.

“Efforts before the Inter-American human rights system, where the Inter-American Human Rights Commission has accepted Santander Tristán Donoso’s international lawsuit, have not been been able to avoid the threats to his personal liberty which continue in flagrant and inexorable fashion.

“In the face of this reality, in which once more the Panamanian judicial system leaves the true fighters for Panamanian justice defenseless (as we are shown by its conduct), we petition you as the representative of the Panamanian state to find an institutional response that both expresses a dignified and respectful outcome for the human rights of Santander Tristán Donoso and a promise that pubic officials won’t use defamation proceedings as mechanisms of impunity and unaccountability, which has been the essential thing about the struggle that Tristán Donoso has waged over these nine years.

“We reiterate our firm solidarity with our friend Santander Tristán Donoso, and announce our decision to continue fighting for a true legal and judicial reform that assures access to justice for all Panamanians and for the elimination of the deadly selective justice that violates the constitutional principle of equality and attacks the foundations of Panamanian democracy.”

The case alluded to reaffirms some of the conclusions of the Citizens’ Alliance for Justtice, which were expressed through its Citizens’s Audit of Criminal Justice in Panama:

1.      There is a generalized perception of impunity and corruption that’s affecting the public image of the functioning of the criminal justice system. On the other hand the citizens observe that justice doesn’t apply equally to everybody.

2.      The process of selection and nomination of Supreme Court magistrates is subordinate to the partisan political interests that dominate the executive and legislative branches, a situation that’s rejected by community and affects the image of judicial independence.

3.      The system of selection and designation of subsidiary judicial servants is based on the discretion of the nominating authority and not on the weight of academic merits or tributes, nor on the basis of promotion of judges, which creates a lack of confidence in the system of judicial careers.

4.      There is a vertical structure in the court system, which foments an excessive control over lower court judges.

5.      There are regulations, found in the context of the Judicial Code, which rule disciplinary procedures for violations of judicial ethics, which are confused and open to different interpretations that detract from the seriousness of our institutions of justice.

6.      According to the people who run the justice system themselves, the crime most likely to result in impunity is that of unjustified enrichment while in public office, due to the requirement that full proof must be presented with the complaint and other legal exigencies that affect the ability of the Public Ministry to investigate this type of crime.

Editor’s note: After former Attorney General José Antonio Sossa publicized a tape he had of a phone conversation between attorney Santander Tristán and a client, Tristán accused the Sossa of violating his privacy. Not only was this complaint summarily dismissed by the courts, but Sossa then charged Tristán with calumnia e injuria (criminal defamation) for making the complaint, and Tristán was convicted. The case is on appeal before the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, which by treaty is the court of last resort for such cases from Panama. See http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cases/71-02.html.