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Published 24th july 2002 in "Het Parool", the Netherlands

Prosecutor wants 15 years for Thea Moear

From our correspondent OKKE ORNSTEIN

Prosecutor Panama wants it all

PANAMA CITY - Prosecutor Rosendo Miranda asked monday in court to sentence Thea Moear and her partner Antonio Brusamolin to a15 year prison sentence, the maximum penalty for drug trafficking. He asked for five years for government official Oscar Osorio, two third less, because he co-operated with the prosecution: after his arrest in the summer of 2000, he immediately "sold out" Moear and Brusamolin.
The trio was tried on suspicion of smuggling XTC and heroin to Panama, from where it would be shipped on to the US. The case came to light when Osorio, a high official of the Ministry of Health, in 2000 started to sell XTC pills. The Panamanian police started an undercover operation, which led to the arrest of Osorio in posession of 1200 pills. He declared that Brusamolin and Moear were his partners in the XTC trade and assisted in their arrest.

Apart from this Panamanian operation, there was also an undercover investigation from the American DEA against the three. Through Panama, XTC and heroin would be delivered to two undercover agents from Miami. These agents traveled to Panama and the Netherlands various times to close the deal. However, the operation was prematurely aborted because Moear didn't trust the deal and asked the agents for identification. Thus, the drugs were never delivered.

The trial last monday focussed on, among other subjects, the question if indeed XTC and heroin has been smuggled to Panama. According to the prosecution, the drugs were hidden in a car that was shipped from the Netherlands to Panama, a yellow Opel. Brusamolin allegedly had bought this car in the Netherlands, however, all paperwork carried the name of Osorio. He claimed that he had only co-operated because this would save import duties. After the arrival of the Opel in Panama, customs searched and cleared the car; without finding any drugs. Except for the 1200 pills of Osorio (he claimed that he was convinced it was "something like Viagra"), there is no tangible evidence against Moear and Brusamolin. The case is almost entirely based on what the trio supposedly would have said to the undercover agents of the DEA. One of these agents, Danny Moritz, was especially flown in from Colombia to testify. He gave an extensive exposé about his contacts with the suspects. Moritz also claimed that most of the conversations had been taped, however, the tapes and transcripts were in Miami and have not been entered into the case in Panama.

Miranda explained his demand for the maximum sentences by stating that these are "hardened criminals". To underline this statement, he waved over his head a copy of the book "The Godmother" of Parool journalist Bart Middelburg, published in 2000, in which the criminal career of Moear as compagnon of mafia boss Klaas Bruinsma is described. The fact that the court had earlier not permitted the book to be brought in as evidence as the prosecution had omitted to provide a translation (the book is in Dutch), seemed already forgotten. The scene was typical for the whole trial, which after preventive custody of no less than two years now had to be held in just one single day.

The lawyers of Moear and Brusamolin, Carlos Carillo and Froilan Hormechea, called the demands of the prosecution outrageous: conspiracy is not a crime in Panama, and evidence that has been collected outside Panama can not be used in Panama just like that (like the samples of XTC that Osorio in Miami and Brusamolin in Rotterdam supposedly had given to the US undercovers). Carillo called the undercover operation in Panama in 2000 even unlawfull. The Attorney General had to give permission for the investigation, but in reality the operation had started much earlier according to the lawyer: the DEA already in 1997 established contact with Osorio.

Apart from that, it was quite remarkable that the political connections of the suspects didn't play any part in the trial. Brusamolin told yet again how he had financially supported the campaign of president Mireya Moscoso, but the Panamanian prosecution doesn't seem to be interested in the possible involvement of more government officials besides Osorio in drug trafficking. The US is more interested. The Americans want to prosecute Moear and Brusamolin for conspiracy to bring drugs to Florida, and have requested the extradition of the duo. To the question if the DEA is indeed looking into the involvement of Panamanian politicians, Moritz, after the trial, answered - with an extremely big smile - that he could not yet comment on that.

Highly unusual was further that the head of the DEA office in Panama, Jay Bergman, during lunch recess saw it fit to go over the case with the judge, although the DEA delivered the most important witness in the case.

Verdict in, approximately, thirty days.

copyright 2002, Okke Ornstein/Het Parool