The Higher Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has declared the convocation to a Disciplinary Trial to be without any value or judicial effect. The summons from the PRD National Disciplinary Council was issued to former President Hipolito Mejia and three other senior PRD members, and was set for today, Friday 21 December. The high court accepted an appeal to stop the process filed by Mejia, the interim president of the PRD, Andres Bautista, general secretary Orlando Jorge Mera and organizational secretary Geanilda Vasquez.
The court’s decision says: We reject as inappropriate, poorly based and lacking judicial backing the measures of inadmissibility set forth by the plaintiff, the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), and the individuals Jose Geovanny Tejada and Rafael Francisco Vasquez.” Judges Mariano Rodriguez, presiding, Mabel Feliz Baez, Jose Manuel Hernandez Peguero and Marino Mendoza and substitute Julio Cesar Madera Arias declared that in the disciplinary hearing convened, they violated due process protected in Article 69 of the Constitution, because order No. 01-2012 issued by the president of the PRD National Disciplinary Council, Rafael “Fiquito” Vasquez, does not include a precise description of the charges alleged by the plaintiffs.
“As a consequence, all the acts and later actions that derive from the summons are hereby declared to have no value or judicial effects.” The complete decision will be issued with the next five days.