Supreme Court acts on Third Penal Court

[NewsWhore]

The Supreme Court has removed the privileged position of the Third Penal Chamber in Santo Domingo. The Third Chamber was responsible for the exclusive handling of cases arising from the application of the new Penal Code, especially in cases related to governmental corruption. As so happens, the Third Chamber, with one exception, has found cause to discharge all of the accused in the corruption cases that have been brought before it and this, in turn, has resulted in the Supreme Court overturning these verdicts. The most famous cases, such as Plan Renove, Victor Cespedes and the greenhouses, were later overturned by the SJC and sent back to other courts for trial. The only case where the Third Chamber found sufficient evidence against the accused was the case involving police officials who had used recovered stolen vehicles with no regard for the owner's rights. The court overturned a lower court's decision and sent the officials to jail. In the sudden move, magistrate Jose Arturo Uribe Efres informed the Third Chamber that in the future the First and Second Chambers would also hear cases filed under the new Penal Code.

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