---
title: "Court Rejects Bail Bid for Fugitive Figures in Panama’s Pegasus Wiretapping Case"
date: 2025-05-07
modified: 2026-04-28
author: ""
url: https://panamadaily.news/pegasus-case-bail-rejected-fugitives/
categories:
  - "Crime"
  - "Politics"
tags:
  - "National Security Council"
  - "Panama courts"
  - "Pegasus"
  - "Ronny Rodríguez"
  - "William Pittí"
  - "wiretapping"
---

# Court Rejects Bail Bid for Fugitive Figures in Panama’s Pegasus Wiretapping Case

## What Happened

Judge Águeda Rentería rejected a bail request filed by William Pittí and Ronny Rodríguez, who remain fugitives in Panama’s high-profile Pegasus wiretapping case. The pair are accused of helping operate the surveillance system used to intercept communications involving politicians and union leaders between 2009 and 2014.

The ruling keeps open the possibility of preventive detention if the two men are apprehended. Pittí and Rodríguez had asked the court to grant them bail so they could avoid being held while the case moves forward.

## Why They Are Wanted

Pittí and Rodríguez have been wanted since 2015, when the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime issued statements for them to appear. They did not show up, and their whereabouts have remained unknown ever since. Detention orders issued by the former Sixteenth Criminal Court remain recorded in the Judicial Investigation Directorate.

The case centers on the Pegasus surveillance platform, which was acquired from Israeli company NSO Group and installed in the National Security Council offices. A protected witness testified that more than 150 people had their communications intercepted from that office.

## Connection to the CSN Convictions

The same witness identified former National Security Council directors Gustavo Pérez and Alejandro Garuz as responsible for the operation. Both were sentenced to 50 months in prison, and that ruling was later upheld by the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice.

According to the testimony, Rodríguez and Pittí handled the Pegasus equipment, received specialized training, and prepared reports based on the information gathered through the interceptions. The witness said the surveillance targeted political leaders, union figures and even Supreme Court magistrates.

## Broader Significance

The Pegasus case remains one of the most sensitive episodes in Panama’s recent political and judicial history because it involves allegations of state-linked surveillance against public figures. The rejection of bail for the fugitives underscores that the courts continue to treat the case as an active and serious criminal matter.

Former President Ricardo Martinelli, who governed from 2009 to 2014, was also investigated in the case. He was later found not guilty by a trial court. His case was first handled by the Supreme Court because of his status as a Central American Parliament lawmaker, before being transferred to ordinary criminal jurisdiction after he resigned that post.