Journalist’s libel case drags on

PANAMA. The tortuous libel and slander case against the editor and publisher of the on line Panama News, Eric Jackson, went through another adjournment this week, after the judge of the 12th Criminal Court, Marlen Morais, decided to wait another 24 hours before giving her final decision.

Jackson, an American living in Panama, has been accused of libel and slander by one his compatriots, Mark Boswell, aka Rex Freeman, after an article about him was published on the Panama News website on August 6, 2006. In his column Business & Economy, Jackson said that Boswell had been convicted of fraud in the United States and was currently under police investigation in Costa Rica and was a former member of a white supremacist group. Jackson’s lawyer, Jose Felix Yanguez from the firm Bernal & Associates, said they are currently waiting for some documents from the U.S. that could be important for the case.