NewsWhore
10-23-2006, 06:10 PM
Judge Jose Manuel Hernandez Peguero is calling for the Supreme Court to investigate judges who deliver favorable sentences in drug-related court cases. Hernandez cited the release on bond of a man believed to be an accomplice of former Captain Ernesto Quirino Paulino's international drug ring. Quirino is in jail, awaiting trial in the United States for his role in the drug trafficking ring. Hernandez is quoted in Listin Diario as saying that it is not fair to set a drug trafficker's bail at RD$50,000 while someone who steals from a vending machine gets RD$200,000 bail.
Gustavo de los Santos Coll, coordinator of the National District District Attorney's Drug Trafficking and Consumption Department is also accusing many interim Instruction Magistrates of being too lenient or of acting in complicity with accused drug offenders. He has requested the intervention of the Supreme Court Chief Justice Jorge Subero Isa, to intervene in the case. De los Santos Coll said that the interim magistrates do not take into consideration the evidence submitted by the prosecutors, and which would allow the accused to be convicted in the first instance. De los Santos Coll cited the case of a Puerto Rican woman, Ginayra Adorno Alvarez, sent to trial by interim magistrate of the Fifth Court of Instruction, Ana Magnolia Mendez Cabrera, but with a variance in the detention measures that granted the accused a bail bond of just RD$20,000. Alvarez is accused of attempting to transport 1.5 kilograms of cocaine to Puerto Rico. The prosecutor told Listin Diario reporters that it was "inconceivable" that a foreigner with a local domicile should receive such treatment. De los Santos Coll also mentioned another interim judge who released a Colombian accused of transporting two kilograms of heroin in spite of a prosecutor's request for an additional time period in which to present the complete files and evidence in the case. The magistrate, Juan Pablo Monegro declared the case closed for lack of evidence.
The government's drug czar Marino Vinicio "Vincho" Castillo agreed with the claims and says that there is a culture of complicity between judges and drug traffickers, which allows for drug crimes to evade justice in the DR.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#11)
Gustavo de los Santos Coll, coordinator of the National District District Attorney's Drug Trafficking and Consumption Department is also accusing many interim Instruction Magistrates of being too lenient or of acting in complicity with accused drug offenders. He has requested the intervention of the Supreme Court Chief Justice Jorge Subero Isa, to intervene in the case. De los Santos Coll said that the interim magistrates do not take into consideration the evidence submitted by the prosecutors, and which would allow the accused to be convicted in the first instance. De los Santos Coll cited the case of a Puerto Rican woman, Ginayra Adorno Alvarez, sent to trial by interim magistrate of the Fifth Court of Instruction, Ana Magnolia Mendez Cabrera, but with a variance in the detention measures that granted the accused a bail bond of just RD$20,000. Alvarez is accused of attempting to transport 1.5 kilograms of cocaine to Puerto Rico. The prosecutor told Listin Diario reporters that it was "inconceivable" that a foreigner with a local domicile should receive such treatment. De los Santos Coll also mentioned another interim judge who released a Colombian accused of transporting two kilograms of heroin in spite of a prosecutor's request for an additional time period in which to present the complete files and evidence in the case. The magistrate, Juan Pablo Monegro declared the case closed for lack of evidence.
The government's drug czar Marino Vinicio "Vincho" Castillo agreed with the claims and says that there is a culture of complicity between judges and drug traffickers, which allows for drug crimes to evade justice in the DR.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#11)