Judges accuse prosecutors of using “populist practices”

The Association of Dominican Judges for Democracy (JUDEMO) rejected the statements issued by prosecutors Wilson Camacho, head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca); Osvaldo Bonilla, prosecutor of Santiago and the prosecutor of the Duarte province, Smailey Rodríguez, after the preventive detention of several involved in corruption cases was varied.

A statement signed by the president of the entity, Elka M. Reyes Olivo, points out that these “insulting expressions” against members of the Judiciary are due to populist practices.

“We invite the aforementioned prosecutors to continue using their recognized powers in criminal prosecution and strengthening their institution, without resorting to these populist practices of using the media to issue serious, defamatory and insulting accusations against those who make up the judiciary, because this conduct, in addition to affecting the Judiciary and the nation, affects the respectability and dignity that comes with being a member of the public prosecutor’s office”, the statement said.

Osvaldo Bonilla and Smailey Rodríguez questioned in a television program the jurisdictional decision of Judge Yiberty Marín Polanco Herrán, for imposing measures of coercion other than prison, as well as the variation of the measure of coercion imposed by Judge Job García Hurtado, in addition to the jurisdictional decision of Judge Darvin López that imposed measures of coercion other than the one requested.

Finally, after the change in the measure of coercion of Adán Cáceres, Pastor Rossy Guzmán, his son Tanner and Rafael Núñez de Aza, Wilson Camacho, indicated that “this country is the only one in the world in which due process and logic only applies to benefit those prosecuted for corruption cases…. Constituting the latter, an insulting statement against all judges in the country.

It also explains that the actions of attorneys Osvaldo Bonilla and Smailey Rodríguez, launching “attacks and accusations” and of the deputy attorney, Wilson Camacho, making insulting expressions against judge Yanibet Rivas, cracks the institutionality and independence of that Power of Attorney. State, its autonomy and the majesty of justice.

It indicates that all the judges acted within the framework conferred on them by law and that Dominican law does not contemplate the debate or contradiction of cases in the press media, since it is in the courts, that in an oral and contradictory manner the cases are presented and discussed. legal arguments.

“We reiterate our concern regarding the damage that abandoning the legal and institutional order is capable of producing, replacing it with populist practices that deviate from the rules of due process and that significantly affect institutional relations, judicial independence, and the climate of legal security. of the nation,” he says.

Lastly, they urge the Superior Council of the Public Ministry, the body that exercises disciplinary control over representatives, to reinforce through training courses, the due “ethical” behavior of these members of the Public Ministry; as well as, to remind the prosecutors Osvaldo Bonilla and Smailey Rodríguez and the assistant prosecutor Wilson Camacho, the provisions of the Organic Law of the Public Ministry (Law 133-11) in articles 79, 85 and 91”.