2017News

Febrillet murder trial delayed again

Blas Peralta

As has occurred on 12 previous times, the case against those accused of the murder of former UASD university rector Mateo Aquino Febrillet was delayed once again on Thursday, 24 February 2017 and postponed for 3 March. But this time, before the new postponement, the National District prosecutor Yeni Berenice Reynoso was able to formally charge the former president of the truckers union Fenatrado, Blas Peralta, and other suspects of the murder of Febrillet and attempted murder of others.

Reynoso said there is proof the bullet that killed Febrillet came from Peralta’s gun. She explained he had received the gun from the police because he was an honorary member of the Police.

During the hearing, the defense lawyers for Blas Peralta and former colonel Rafael Herrera Peña requested a suspension claiming his clients were ill, noting that Peralta and Herrera suffered from high blood pressure, diabetes and other complications.

At the hearing, the National District prosecutor Yeni Berenice Reynoso quipped that the colonel was in better shape than she was, but the court judge accepted the request for another postponement made by the defense.

Lawyers of the Febrillet family complained this was the 13th time that excuses have been used by defense attorneys to delay the case. The period for preventive custody for the accused ends on 11 March 2017.

Government prosecutors have accused Peralta of firing the shots that killed Febrillet. Retired police colonel Rafael Herrera Peña, Franklin Venega and Gerardino Félix Bautista Mena are accused of being accomplices in the murder of Febrillet and attempted murder of others.

Read more in Spanish:
El Caribe
Listin Diario