The Penal Code about to be approved in the PLD-majority Congress includes new clauses that could mean imprisonment for anyone who questions the conduct of high-ranking government figures. El Dia warns that the articles will lead to increased impunity and self-censorship and would not allow Dominicans to demand accountability from government officials.
In an editorial today, Friday 9 November the newspaper says that while the global trend is for eliminating penalties for defamation and libel, our legislators are proposing to increase them. The newspaper appeals to the deputies to not approve “the dreadful articles”. The bill has already been approved in the Senate and in a first reading in the Chamber of Deputies but the newspaper says there is still time for public hearings on such a crucial matter.
El Dia newspaper editor Rafael Molina Morillo writes that at the end of his term, President Leonel Fernandez created by decree a commission of 10 experts to prepare one or more bills to guarantee and regulate freedom of expression in all its forms. He said he chaired the commission and delivered five bills to the then President. He highlights that President Fernandez did not present any of these bills to Congress. Instead, “incredible clauses that endanger freedom of expression” have been included in the Penal Code under discussion in Congress. The newspaper highlights that democracy itself is at risk.
Molina specifies that articles 191-198 now included in the Penal Code on defamation and libel will have a chilling effect. He said that no one, journalist or not, will dare criticize, accuse, investigate or unmask government officials, for fear of going to jail even when in the right. He said the bill establishes inadmissible restrictions. He points out that it even establishes that one could not dub a chief of state of a friendly nation a “dictator”. He urges deputies to call for open hearings to find an intelligent solution that is more in tune with these times.
Claudio Paolillo, president of the International Press Association (IAPA) Freedom of Press Commission says that if the Dominican Congress approves the reform it would “set an enormously negative precedent not only for the country but for the region,” as reported in El Dia.
In addition, he said the proposed legislation violates the Constitution and Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights when it seeks to impose a regime of “treason”, “gag rule” or “law of contempt”, and is comparable to a regime “censorship” when dealing with high-ranking government officials.
The PLD administration under President Leonel Fernandez was ranked as the most corrupt of 149 countries rated by the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report. Several of the officials in his government continue in their posts.