Category Archives: Panama

Ricardo Martinelli: former Panama president not guilty of spying

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Prosecutors had sought a 21-year prison term for alleged spying on at least 150 people and misuse of public funds

A Panamanian court has cleared the former president Ricardo Martinelli of political espionage during his administration and ordered him released from house arrest.

The three-judge panel declared Martinelli not guilty on Friday of charges stemming from the purported spying on the communications of at least 150 people and of the alleged misuse of public funds to purchase the equipment to carry out the intercepts during his 2009-2014 administration.

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UK rights advocate co-owns firm whose spyware is ‘used to target dissidents’

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Exclusive: Yana Peel co-owns NSO Group that licensed Pegasus software to authoritarian regimes

A leading human rights campaigner and head of a prestigious London art gallery is the co-owner of an Israeli cyberweapons company whose software has allegedly been used by authoritarian regimes to spy on dissidents, the Guardian can reveal.

Yana Peel, the chief executive of the Serpentine Galleries and a self-proclaimed champion of free speech, co-owns NSO Group, a $1bn (£790m) Israeli tech firm, according to corporate records in the US and Luxembourg.

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Panama Papers ‘tightened the noose’ on offshore assets of Maduro’s inner circle

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In the wake of the scandal, it became harder to launder money through investment in Panamanian real estate for Venezuelans who grew rich on the back of their political connections

On Avenida Balboa, Panama City’s premier seafront avenue, the 50 story tower blocks form a near continuous wall of glass to the Pacific Ocean. At night, however, most of the luxury apartments remain in darkness and the basement casinos are eerily deserted.

Panamanian real estate was a favourite investment of the boliburgues, Venezuelans who grew rich on the back of their political connections to the late president Hugo Chávez and his successor Nicolás Maduro.

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Deflagging of refugee rescue ship a ‘dark moment’ for Europe

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Report by Human Rights at Sea says revoking of Aquarius’s flag sets precedent for states to ignore international humanitarian law

The deflagging of the Aquarius, the last migrant rescue ship in the Mediterranean, represents a “dark moment” in European history, setting a dangerous precedent for states to flout international humanitarian laws.

A report by the charity Human Rights at Sea (HRAS) cited “inconsistencies in reasoning” given by Gibraltar and Panama for revoking the flag of Aquarius, which it said had acted transparently.

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