President Leonel Fernandez said that the judgment that declared Joaquin Pou Castro, Mariano Cabrera Duran, Rafael Lluberes Ricart and Luis Emilio de la Rosa Beras guilty of the murder of Orlando Martinez shows that Dominican justice has been strengthened. The politically-sensitive case against the "material" murderers of the editor of Orlando Martinez, the Ahora newsweekly magazine and El Nacional columnist in 1975 ended last week, after being practically ignored by three previous governments. Judge Katia Jimenez sentenced Pou Castro, Cabrera Duran, Rafael Lluberes Ricart and Luis Emilio de la Rosa Beras, who were on the site of the crime, to 30 years for their involvement and direct complicity in the case. Overall, the case was seen as a step ahead in Dominican justice and for Dominican society. The case was retaken during the early years of the Fernandez administration by Guillermo Moreno, District Attorney and Abel Rodriguez del Orbe, General Attorney.
