The judge of the Fifth Penal Chamber of the National District, Esther Agelan Casasnovas ordered former President Hipolitio Mejia to appear before her court and testify in the case of Salazar vs. Castillo. Hernani Salazar, now a senator for San Francisco de Macoris and previously a very close associate of Mejia, is suing noted jurist and politician Marino Vinicio Castillo (Vincho) for defamation of character and insults. The judge decided that Mejia should testify because she considers him to be the number one witness for the defense. The judge set the court date for Saturday, 21 May. The day before yesterday, according to Hoy, the former chief executive sent a note to the judge in which he stated that he decided not to testify in the case because he had nothing to add to the case. At the same time the former Attorney General, Virgilio Bello Rosa told reporters that he hoped that the trial would be recessed in order for him to continue his efforts for an out of court settlement, since, in his view, nothing good would come out of the trial. Bello Rosa was the Attorney General during part of the Mejia administration and is a candidate for the PRD presidency, while Vincho Castillo is president of the National Progressive Force (FNP), one of the small parties that is allied with the PLD party.
The list of character witnesses reads like a Who’s Who of the former administration. The judge reconfirmed the citation for former Minister of the Armed Forces, Jose Miguel Soto Jimenez, former Air Force Chief of Staff, former General Virgilio Sierra Perez and the former Minister of Sports Cesar Cedeno and former Olympic Committee president Dr. Jose Joaquin Puello.
The judge accepted the request of defense lawyers for Vincho Castillo who argued that the case should be recessed until hearing the testimony of the former President, which they called “of the highest order” of importance because of the clear relationship the President had with Salazar and Bladimir Garcia, the Dominican arrested in February in the United States on drug charges.
The case began when Salazar sued Castillo for RD$100 million because in one of his television talks Castillo tied the former Mejia official to both Quirino Paulino Castillo and Bladimir Garcia, both of whom are now under arrest and on trial for drug trafficking in the a New York court. Supreme Court chief justice Jorge Subero Isa told reporters that Mejia had best appear before the court or face the consequences.