translated from Spanish: With large measures of security, no hugs begins the trial of the Chapo

the prosecution and the defense of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, cross arguments on Tuesday in a New York Court at the start of his trial.
The 12 regular jurors and six alternates were selected last week after several interrogations in which at least five people were discarded because they feared for his life and one suffered a panic attack that left her in the hospital.
To preserve its security, jurors will be escorted by bailiffs armed every day at the Court, and their names are kept anonymous. With trained dogs and equipment to detect gas and explosives, dozens of policemen reinforced surveillance in the Brooklyn Court.
Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán is accused of leading the Sinaloa cartel and turn it into the largest criminal organization, with the shipment of more than 155 tons of cocaine to the United States for 25 years.
“This is a landmark case for the Government, not only for the alleged crimes of the accused but because this is a case for setting an example in the United States war against international drug trafficking”, told AFP René Sotorrio, a lawyer in Miami who defends the herm years Rivera Maradiaga, Honduran poster waging the Cachiros who could testify against the Chapo.
Sotorrio said that in more than 40 years of experience in federal cases he never saw such extreme measures of security.
None of hugs on the grounds that it can escape or ordering attacks against witnesses who cooperate with the Government, federal judge Brian Cogan denied the request of the Chapo to greet and give “perhaps a hug” from one second to his young spouse Emma Coronel Tuesday , at the beginning of the process.
Advocates of the Chapo, escaped twice from a Mexican prison in 2001 and 2015, had asked the judge that it allowed this “humanitarian gesture” between spouses, who the Government prohibits talking on the phone or be personally from his extradition to new York nearly two years ago.
During the process, which will last more than four months, the jury will have to decide whether or not the Chapo, 61 years, considered a major drug trafficker in the world after the death of the Colombian Pablo Escobar, is guilty of 11 offences of trafficking and distribution of drugs, possession of weapons and money laundering.
His conviction can result in imprisonment.
The Prosecutor’s office, which prepares the case years ago, ensures that the criminal empire of the Chapo, with reach in the Americas, Asia and Europe, had a turnover of about 14, 000 million dollars. Authorities could never seize a weight.
The Chapo pleads not guilty, but the Government has presented various evidence: more than 300, 000 pages of documents and at least 117, 000 audio recordings, plus hundreds of photos and videos.
Overwhelming evidence?
“The Prosecutor has overwhelming evidence against it”, estimated Sotorrio.
They would have “dozens and dozens of individuals who in any way have done business with the Organization of the Chapo and have volunteered as witnesses against him”, according to Sotorrio.
Therefore, “it is likely that the Prosecutor’s office sits with some confidence”, he added.
Cooperating witnesses who are in prison or witness protection program can achieve a significant reduction in his sentence, but the prosecution estimated that they and their families are at risk of life.
That the Government asked the judge who in sketches of the Court not being drawn faces and hairstyles of some of them. The photos submitted as evidence, its features will be foliage to avoid that they are identified.
Although the Chapo is not accused of murder, the Prosecutor’s office ensures that it has evidence of at least 33 murders committed or ordered by him.
In his cell in Manhattan, the Chapo has spent 22 months isolated for 23 hours a day.
The only ones who can visit you are their lawyers and their twin daughters of seven years, but only through a glass partition.
 

Original source in Spanish