Important press judgement

[NewsWhore]

Judge Eduardo Sanchez Ortiz discharged Hoy newspaper journalists Odalis Mejia and Jose Alfredo Espinal, who had been accused of defaming a man who the National Police had erroneously included in a case for the kidnapping of a child, from all responsibility. The journalists were declared innocent of articles 367, 371 and 372 of the Penal Code and item 29 of Law 6132 on Communication, for lack of evidence. Furthermore, and more importantly, the editors of Hoy and El Nacional, Mario Alvarez Dugan and Radhames Gomez Pepin were also absolved. Communications Law 6132 establishes that the editors of the publications where the news appeared would also be held responsible for the charge, but the judge ruled that Article 102 of the Constitution says that no one can be criminally responsible for another person's error, and that this is also established in Art. 17 of the Criminal Procedures Code. The ruling is issued on the understanding that what is established in the Constitution overrules any law.

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