The magistrate heading the instructional phase of the case of rock ash dumping in Manzanillo and Samana has decreed that the government did not have a case against the accused former Mejia administration officials. Favored by the decree were, first, Domingo Antonio Rosario Pimentel, former PRD senator for San Cristobal, and president of “Trans Nacional Dominicana de Desarrollo” the company that moved the 30,000 tons of the so-called rock ash to Manzanillo. Hector Rene Ledesma, former Deputy Environment Minister and Rosendo Arsenio Berges, former head of the Dominican Port Authority were also cleared of charges. Former Environment Minister Frank Moya Pons was excluded from the indictment. El Caribe reports that there were public protests in Manzanillo when the verdict was read out. Listin Diario reports that the town of Manzanillo is in mourning and the people are wearing black ribbons in protest. Environmental prosecutor Ramon Aristides Madera Arias told reporters that things are so bad that people living near the rock ash dump are asking the government to move them to another location some 20 kilometers away.