Last week, the Appeals Court rescinded a lower court decision to jail and fine the dozen or so defendants in the RENOVE corruption case. With the exception of the Dominican President, Leonel Fernandez, just about everyone in public life has expressed anything from dismay to disgust over the decision. On Saturday, Dominican Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez said that he felt that the court’s decision was a “mockery” of justice. At the same time he called on politicians to modify and tone down their language, which he considered to be a call to violence. In the prelate’s opinion, the nation cannot continue to have public officials and judges who are subject to bribes, and who act above and beyond the principles of justice and fairness that should be at the forefront of the development of any society. Never one to mince his words, the Cardinal said that he was “absolutely against the decision,” and that “justice should be in the hands of serious and proven men, and not charlatans such as those who committed this barbarity,” as reported in Listin Diario. The Cardinal also described the Appeals Court’s decision as “impudent and displaying a lack of seriousness on the part of the judges who dictated the sentence.”