Ramón Ramírez, brother of the murdered lawyer, Yuniol Ramírez, suspects that the appointment of new National District prosecutor Rosalba Ramos is a step taken to delay the murder trial’s hearings. Earlier this year, the family had maneuvered to get the case moved from Ramos’ jurisdiction in western Santo Domingo to the National District. In the National District, prosecutor Yeni Berenice Reynoso would have heard the case. But now, Ramos has been appointed National District prosecutor following an unexpected fast tracking of an overall overhaul of the prosecutors around the country. This means, she will resume hearings of the case.
Ramírez said that in Santo Domingo West, key accused Manuel Rivas, who was the director of the OMSA government bus entity, is a “patriarch.”
Already, Manuel Rivas is out of jail, having been allowed medical leave at Cedimat.
“He (Manuel Rivas) strangely got sick days before the hearing would start and days before the announcement of the new prosecutor was made. These are strategies they are using, and we know that, and are going to work our defense around that,” he said.
The former financial director of the Oficina Metropolitana de Servicios de Autobuses (OMSA) Faustino Rosario claims he is innocent of the charges. In addition to Manuel Rivas and Rosario, others accused are Jose Mercado, Victor Elisander Ravelo, Jorge Abreu Fabia, Lucas Tobias Ortega and Heidy Peña.
Yuniol Ramírez had been preparing a case for corruption against Manuel Rivas and the OMSA operations. The authorities are awaiting the return to the country of another OMSA employee, Argenis Contreras who fled to the United States after the murder.
Follow the story in Spanish:
El Caribe
El Dia
19 September 2018
