(MENAFN - Newsroom Panama) A protected witness in the spying trial of former president Ricardo Martinelli was photographed by members of the defense legal team after he delivered explosive testimony of the operations of a small team spying on political leaders, judges businessmen, and even the president's mistress.



The protected witness requested protection for himself and his family for fear of reprisals. The trial court prohibited anyone to approach, reveal or present images of him.



The witness, a former official who worked at the Security Council (CSN), reported that during the administration of Martinelli three spy systems teams were acquired



The first was installed at a Super 99 office in Punta Pacifica the first two systems teams did not meet expectations and the Pegasus system was acquired, which gave full access to the cell phones of targets and with which the camera could be remotely operated and record ambient sound. The spy team was trained by a group of Israelis who stayed at the Miramar Intercontinental.



He confirmed that Ronny Rodriguez, one of the team members delivered a daily consolidation report on espionage activities to Martinelli.



He recalled that this team managed to record a conversation between deputy Zulay RodrÃ­guez and her husband, Ãlvaro Testa and that Martinelli gave instructions for a video to be made and then uploaded to YouTube.



The witness recited a list of PRD victims of the spying activity among them, the president-elect, Laurentino Cortizo, Balbina Herrera, Mitchell Doens, Francisco Sanchez CÃ¡rdenas, Juan Carlos Arosemena and Pedro Miguel GonzÃ¡lez, among others.



In the PanameÃ±ista Party, the targets were the current president Juan Carlos Varela; his brother and deputy JosÃ© Luis Varela, and the current mayor of Panama, JosÃ© Isabel BlandÃ³n.



Another target was the then magistrate of the Electoral Tribunal Erasmo Pinilla. The current magistrate of the Supreme Court AyÃº Prado and ex-magistrate VÃ­ctor Benavides were also spied on.



There were also members of the Cambio DemocrÃ¡tico party, such as former presidential candidate RÃ³mulo Roux, former education minister Lucy Molinar, and Aurora, whom he identified as "President Martinelli's lover".



They were spying on officials from the United States Embassy, €‹€‹ and businessmen NicolÃ¡s GonzÃ¡lez Revilla, and Stanley Motta.



Aurelio VÃ¡squez, from the prosecution team, said that the evidence s of the protected witness was overwhelming, and confirmed in detail the circumstances already described by other witnesses.



Once the defeat of Cambio DemocrÃ¡tico in the elections of May 2014, was known he was ordered to dismantle all equipment, including two laptops - one of which was in the hands of the ex-president that were restored to their original state with everything, deleted.

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