When justice dons dark glasses

A two year jail term was the sentence imposed on El Siglo editor Jean Marcel Chery , for what basically amounted to a charge of trespassing on property belonging to former Minister of Givernment and Justice, now Supreme Court Judge, Winston Spadafora. It happened when Chery was working as an investigative reporter for Panama America, and was checking on a road allegedly being built with public funds that led not to nowhere, but to the Minister’s country farm. This was not a road of a few meters, but a 4.6 kilometer stretch, and the project seemed well worthy of the attention of one widely regarded as the best investigative journalist in Panama.

Chery says that far from trespassing, he and others were invited in by the farm foreman.

The case against Chery, which he describes as persecution on the part of Spadafora, has dragged on for over eight years. In Panama the wheels of justice grind slowly, but when they grind, if you are not into bribery and corruption, they grind finely. The two year jail sentence was handed down by Ricardo Mazza , who last hit the headlines when he acquitted the uncle of President Martin Torrijos for a crime involving property and destruction of irreplaceable mangrove swamps.

That decision was promptly overturned by his fellow judges, and if justice prevails, this decision will meet the same fate. As presidential candidate Ricardo Martinelli said: “This sort of situation attempts to hamper the freedom of the press” and described what was happening to Chery as “shameful.”

As Martinelli is favorite to become the next president, maybe it’s time for the judge who thinks two years incarceration is appropriate for “trespassing” to look for greener fields.

“Hanging” Judge Jefferies would have been proud of him. Others might have imposed a small fine.

WORLD RECOGNITION. Meanwhile as one leading businessman told me: "Poor Panama. With the government refusing to acknowledge calls from international bodies to obey tribunal decisions, increasing crime and corruption, once again our name is muddied around the world." Amen.

WASHING. My mail box today is full of messages about the potential swine flu pandemic. The least concerned seemed to be those readers living in Toronto who, a few years ago, lived through the SARS epidemic that killed over 40 people, including doctors and nurses. It also caused great economic damage to Canada’s largest city as conventions and conferences were cancelled, and the production of at least one movie was moved out of the city. Hotel occupancy rate in Toronto fell by half and tour operators suffered large declines in business.

Even the US Library of Congress officially excused itself from attending the American Library Association convention in Toronto in summer 2003 as a precaution.

But in the general population there was no panic. Those who had contact with suspected or confirmed SARS cases were quarantined in their homes for nearly two weeks. A visit to the doctor, involved washing hands before entering the waiting room. Elsewhere life went on as usual. No masks to be seen, people still went to the movies, and when some people stayed away from Chinatown because of fears of the disease imported from Hong Kong, prominent political figures headed there to dine.

In 2005 and 2006, The Rumoli Brothers (a comedy duo based in Toronto) put on SARSical (spoofing Seussical); a musical that explored the lighter side of the epidemic and poked fun at the media's overreaction to the 43 deaths that occurred in Toronto. Could we be on the same path?

But the hand washing rule is still important, not just in times of flu outbreaks.