NewsWhore
03-09-2012, 11:30 AM
According to Reporters Without Borders a court in Santiago has acquitted three men of the 2008 murder of Normando Garcia, a cameraman employed by the Santiago-based TV station Teleunion.
Those acquitted on 1 March were businessman Jaime Flete Garcia and the two men Flete allegedly hired to gun Garcia down on 7 August 2008 in Santiago, Jose Amauris Santiago and Jose Agustin Espinal. A taxi driver Garcia was talking to at the time was also fatally injured in the shooting.
"We are unpleasantly surprised by this decision as Flete's motive for murdering Garcia seemed to have been established," Reporters Without Borders said. "If there was insufficient evidence against the three defendants, why did the court not hear the testimony of the police officer who led the investigation? Was pressure put on the judges? These questions alone are sufficient grounds for the appeal that the prosecution plans to file."
At a previous hearing on 28 August 2010, the three defendants were released on US$130,000 bail on condition that they did not leave the country and presented themselves regularly to the judicial authorities in Santiago.
Prosecutor Luisa Liranzo has announced his intention to appeal against their acquittal on the grounds that testimony was not taken during the trial from the police officer in charge of investigating the murder, Colonel Roberto Salcedo.
The Dominican Republic is ranked 95th out of 179 countries in the latest Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. Another journalist was murdered in 2011.
http://en.rsf.org/dominican-republic-court-surprisingly-acquits-three-08-03-2012,42038.html
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#10)
Those acquitted on 1 March were businessman Jaime Flete Garcia and the two men Flete allegedly hired to gun Garcia down on 7 August 2008 in Santiago, Jose Amauris Santiago and Jose Agustin Espinal. A taxi driver Garcia was talking to at the time was also fatally injured in the shooting.
"We are unpleasantly surprised by this decision as Flete's motive for murdering Garcia seemed to have been established," Reporters Without Borders said. "If there was insufficient evidence against the three defendants, why did the court not hear the testimony of the police officer who led the investigation? Was pressure put on the judges? These questions alone are sufficient grounds for the appeal that the prosecution plans to file."
At a previous hearing on 28 August 2010, the three defendants were released on US$130,000 bail on condition that they did not leave the country and presented themselves regularly to the judicial authorities in Santiago.
Prosecutor Luisa Liranzo has announced his intention to appeal against their acquittal on the grounds that testimony was not taken during the trial from the police officer in charge of investigating the murder, Colonel Roberto Salcedo.
The Dominican Republic is ranked 95th out of 179 countries in the latest Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. Another journalist was murdered in 2011.
http://en.rsf.org/dominican-republic-court-surprisingly-acquits-three-08-03-2012,42038.html
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#10)