30 95. On March 25, 1999, Mr. Tristán Donoso called a press conference at the venue of the Colegio Nacional de Abogados de Panamá [Panamá National Bar Association],80 where he such: in July 1996, in that sad July [19]96, I was having a telephone conversation with the father of one of such persons in that criminal prosecution [of Walid Zayed for the alleged charge of money laundering], which the Attorney General tape recorded and of which I have a cassette and not only that was done, he used the cassette to summon the authorities of the Junta Directiva del Colegio Nacional de Abogados [Governing Board of the National Bar Association] […] to explain to them that I was part of a conspiracy against his person. [T]wo brave lawyers who were at that historical meeting, […] told the Attorney General that what 81 he was doing at that moment was a crime. 96. At the moment the facts described in the instant case occurred, there was intense debate in Panamá, in which even a civil judge and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court had participated, over the powers of the Procurador General de la Nación [National Attorney General] to wiretap and tape-record telephone conversations. 97. In fact, on March 20, 1999, the Juez Tercero del Circuito Civil de Panamá [Panamá Civil Circuit Judge Number Three] lodged a complaint against the former Attorney General for illegally interfering with the telephone communications of the Court in his charge, a fact which had widespread repercussion and was published in several Panamanian newspapers,82 prompting the intervention of several bodies such as the Defensoría del Pueblo de Panamá [Office of the Ombudsman of Panamá].83 80 The Defensoría del Pueblo de Panamá [Office of the Ombudsman of Panamá] by means of Official Letter D.P.P.-R.P. No. 151/99 of March 25, 1999, addressed to the Procurador de la Administración [Solicitor for the Administration], pointed out that “[t]oday, at about five p.m. at the Bar Association and in the presence of journalists, Licentiate. Santander Tristán Donoso delivered some documents to me which, in his opinion, are evidence of the wiretapping to which he was subjected by the Procurador General de la Nación [National Attorney General], José Antonio Sossa.” (Case File of Appendixes to the Application, Book I, Appendix 26, folio 1606); Cf. El Siglo newspaper, March 26, 1999 issue, article entitled “¿Renunciará el Procurador? La Corte no ha dado una “autorización en blanco” para que Sossa “pinche” teléfonos” [“Will the Attorney General resign? The Court has not given Sossa a ‘blank endorsement’ for ‘bugging’ telephones.”] this article reads “[l]a denuncia del abogado [Tristán Donoso] agrega nuevos elementos contra Sossa que enfrenta una verdadera tormenta de críticas y denuncias, […]” [“the criminal complaint filed by lawyer [Tristán Donoso] adds further elements against Sossa, who faces a host of criticism and accusations […].”] (Case File of Appendixes to the Reply to the Application, Book I, Appendix B-2, folio 3463). Cf. as well La Prensa newspaper, April 16, 1999 issue, article entitled “Nuevas revelaciones sobre espionaje telefónico” [“New revelations on telephone spying”] referring to the case of Mr. Tristán Donoso (Case File of Appendixes to the Reply to the Application, Book I, Appendix B-2, folio 4857). 81 Judgment No. SA-2 of the Juzgado Noveno de Circuito Penal del Primer Circuito Judicial de Panamá [Panamá First Court Circuit Criminal Circuit Court Number Nine], dated January 16, 2004 (Case File of Appendixes to the Application, Book I, Appendix 25, folio 1576). 82 Cf. La Prensa newspaper, Wednesday March 24, 1999, article headlined “Juez acusa al procurador Sossa por intervenir ilegalmente su teléfono” [“Judge accuses Attorney General Sossa of illegally wiretapping his telephone”] (Case File of Appendixes to the Motions, Pleadings and Evidence brief, Book II, Appendix 51, folio 2852) and El Siglo newspaper, March 26, 1999 issue, supra note 80 (Case File of Appendixes to the Reply to the Application, Book I, Appendix B-2, folio 3463). 83 Cf. Official Letter D.P.P.-R.P. No. 177/99, dated April 15, 1999, of the Defensoría del Pueblo de la República de Panamá [Office of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Panamá] and addressed to the Procuradora de la Administración [Solicitor for the Administration] (Case File of Appendixes to the Application, Book I, Appendix 32, folio 1636).