The civic society movement Citizen Participation (Participacion Ciudadana) formed a human chain yesterday in front of the Attorney General’s office to protest corruption and impunity in the Dominican Republic. The movement challenged Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito to demonstrate he is firm in his intentions to prosecute corruption without bias. A letter that had been sent to the Prosecutor in regards to the recent case of Senator Felix Bautista was read by general coordinator of Participacion Ciudadana, Candido Mercedes. Bautista is secretary of organization of the ruling PLD political party.
The letter expresses concern that Dominguez Brito has said he will not take the Felix Bautista case to the court of cassation, the highest appellate court in the Dominican judiciary. Dominguez Brito has argued the Supreme Court of Justice is not trustworthy.
Senator Felix Bautista is known to have presented an asset statement of less than half a million pesos when he first entered the Fernandez government and prosecutors have shown evidence that Bautista now has assets worth billions of pesos. Bautista hired several of the best penal lawyers in the country to avoid having to prove his innocence of corruption charges in court. He has boasted having won six Supreme Court rulings impeding the opening of the case.
Citizen Participation calls on Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito to take the additional step and appeal the decision of the Penal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice. Recently this court prevented the opening of a hearing in the corruption case against senator Bautista for alleged illegal activities when he was the director of the Office of Supervisory Engineers of the State (OISOE).
Earlier this week, another civic society group, Centro Juan XXIII accused the government of covering up corruption. Centro Juan XXIII also calls that the Felix Bautista case be taken to cassation to verify the interpretation of the law.
Participación Ciudadana reta al Procurador Francisco Domínguez Brito