Political asylum

An institution with clear humanitarian roots, the asylum is still one of the strongest and most famous institutions in the world. International humanitarian law and also public international law.

American law carries many connotations examples in which the asylum institute shone with particular success and positioned itself as the strongest neutralizer of all persecutions or injustices against a certain citizen.

Persecutions do not necessarily have to take place in a political scenario, that is, the actions inevitably come from officials who have a political position. Persecution can also arise from other scenarios, but this does not mean political persecution loses its nature. In addition, the characteristic “politically persecuted” is an exclusive qualification that is granted by the requested state at the request of the interested party and the potential beneficiary of asylum. This means that the country of which the applicant is a citizen could hardly try to obtain asylum on the basis of political persecution. not even to distort the basis or reason why political asylum was sought or requested.

In the case of former President Martinelli, Panama remains, by default, the existing conventions on this matter, which our country integrated into the lex forum, that is, by incorporating them into national law, apart from becoming part of the inter-American system of humanitarian justice, it is obliged to comply with its own regulations of these conventions. Not for solidarity but for security. To mention Havana Convention from 1928, Montevideo Convention from 1954. among others. In fact, when the former president was in the headquarters of the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama, because said embassy, ​​because of fictitious iuris or legal fiction, the extension The territory of Nicaragua, in fact and legally, is already in the territory of the State of Nicaragua.

Such fictions were developed by the Law itself as means for the best integration and interpretation of the Law. That is, for the development of the judiciary itself. Should safe behavior be approved? Of course. It is an obligation arising from Jus Cogens typical of international law and binding on the state and government of Panama. It should be noted that the Inter-American Humanitarian Justice System planned to specify that asylum basically seeks to protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the subject who benefits from asylum. Be a politician or a diplomat.

Within those freedoms and human rights are not left out, in no way, rights related to suffrage: to vote and be elected. Therefore, it is worth analyzing as a specific feature of the institute of political asylum that its purpose is the protection of those who rights and freedoms, starting, first, for the life and integrity of a person. Even that of his family. How asylum affects a conviction whose edges have connotations of a political nature in the Martinelli case? In my opinion, in accordance with my doctrinal elaborations, which I have consulted internationalist experts from Panama, has the power to suspend any execution of a criminal conviction. Then the sentence remains uncertain until the asylum survives. Conclusion: Without a doubt, from this perspective, the former president should preserve his status as a presidential candidate. God bless the country!