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The defense lawyer for a man accused of murdering his DJ girlfriend in Colombia has resigned from the case because his life has been threatened – while the court interpreter also stepped down over inaccurate translations.

Martín Riascos, who has been representing American John Poulos, 35, made the shocking request to resign prior to the start of Tuesday’s hearing in Bogotá.

Riascos said the threats began shortly after Poulos was formally charged by the prosecution for killing Valentina Trespalacios, 23, whose body was found inside a suitcase after he allegedly tossed it into a dumpster on January 22 and fled to Panamá the same day.

‘Since last Wednesday, Lawyer istanbul January 25, 2023, on my social networks, in person, by phone calls and by all means, I have received threats,’ Riascos told the judge.’So much so that I have decided not to answer my phone or open messages from unknown people. If you have any queries regarding wherever and how to use Lawyer istanbul, you can get in touch with us at our web site. ‘ 

Poulos also told the judge that he ‘would like to change interpreters’ after the court’s appointed translator, Martha Morales, struggled to accurately perform her role, stumbling on legal terms and mispronouncing words – a problem which could nullify the case.

On Tuesday, lawyer Riascos said: ‘Ironically, I asked for security only for who up to that moment was my client, but neither the judiciary nor anyone else thought about all the problems that all this was causing me and my personal life.’

Riascos added that Poulos had also asked him to step down as his representative.Defense attorney Juan Fallas has now taken over his legal representation.

According to Riascos, Poulos’ decision drop him as his lawyer was not a ploy from the accused said to delay the proceedings.

Poulos is facing aggravated femicide and concealment of evidence charges in a case that has shocked the South American nation.

Interpreter Martha Morales has encountered problems with the simultaneous translations for all parties involved during the first two hearings because Poulos is not fluent in Spanish.

Her role was to provide translations for the judge, prosecution and for the attorney’s representing Poulos and Trespalacios.

But in both live hearings viewed online by DailyMail.com, it was clear that Morales has been unable to provide an accurate translation. On multiple occasions she has taken long pauses to gather her thoughts, often fumbling the legal terms, and has constantly mispronounced words. 

There have been several instances where she asked the judge to stop because she did not know how to properly translate.

Attorney Ricardo Burgos told Caracol TV on Monday that he feared that Morales’ inability to translate could hinder the case going forward.

He slammed the court for pausing the hearings several times to provide Poulos a summary of that has just been said despite Morales’ translations.

‘The Supreme Court of Justice has established that translations to a person must be comprehensive and that this clearly violates constitutional rights and that it nullifies everything from the moment they happened,’ he said.

Poulos, the father of one boy and two girls in the United States, declined to plea guilty to one count of aggravated femicide and another of concealment evidence of a  scene during last Friday’s hearing.

‘I am aware of my decision, and do not accept the charges,’ he said.

Poulos, who was planning on marrying Trespalacios and living in Colombia full time, arrived in Colombia on January 19 and met the following day with the electronic music DJ.

Video footage showed Poulos pushing a supermarket cart containing the suitcase in which he reportedly concealed Trespalacios’ body the morning of January 22.

He was seen placing the suitcase into the trunk of a Volkswagen Voyager in the garage of the Bogotá north side apartment building and then driving away.

He drove to the south side of Bogotá, where he tossed the luggage bag inside a dumpster next to a park, and drove towards El Dorado International Airport.

Lead prosecutor  Daniel Gómez said that Poulos threw away Trespalacios’ cellphone at the airport. 

Poulos’ plan to avoid capture included the additional cash purchase of two airplane tickets, one from Panamá City to São Paulo, Brazil, to throw off the Colombian National Police’s international manhunt and a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, where he would connect to a plane to Montenegro, where there is no extradition treaty with Colombia.

Panamanian immigration agents and the Interpol arrested him January 24 night at Tocumen International Airport moments before he was about to board Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul.

Poulos told authorities in Panamá that the defunct Medellín Cartel was behind Trespalacios’ murder and wanted to kill him.