Women’s Minister Janet Camilo says she will be sending to Congress this month a request to amend several articles of the Criminal Procedure Code so that those who exercise violence against women cannot be released from prison under “an agreement.” She explained that Dominican laws allow for negotiations in criminal cases. She said justice system officials use these laws to release aggressors, despite their violent records.
Recently, there have been two cases of men who attempted against the lives of their spouses, had been convicted, only to be released from jail after reaching an agreement, and subsequently killed their partners. The recent cases are those of the late Anibel Gonzalez who was murdered by her former spouse Oscar Yasmil Fernández, who later committed suicide. And the death on Monday, 4 November 2019, of Juana Domínguez Salas. Her spouse, Johan Manuel Ramírez, is accused of the murder. He had previously attempted to kill her.
The Listin Diario points out that in both cases lawyer Ramón Leonardo Sánchez intervened, reaching a judicial deal with San Pedro de Macorís prosecution officer Margarita Hernández Morales. Hernández had been suspended from her role after the death of Gonzalez. She was arrested after this other agreement was known to have led to a second murder and the story hit the media.
Minister Janet Camilo said the month of November commemorates the International Day of Non-Violence against Women.
She reported that in the first nine months of 2019, the Ministry of Women, through the Shelters Houses Program, has safeguarded the lives of 903 people, of whom 520 are women, 326 children under 13 and 57 adolescents, who were living in extreme situations of male violence. Diario Libre reported that the Ministry of Women has provided assistance to more than 28,000 victims of gender violence this year.
During a press conference held at the Ministry, Camilo reiterated that statistics show that there is not a single case of femicide among women who have received the protection of the Shelter Houses, since the beginning of its operation in 2008, and that is its main objective, saving lives.
She urged citizens to report cases of gender and domestic violence through the Women’s Line *212.
Diario Libre published editorials on 6 and 7 November 2019 urging changes in the judicial legislation to impede that deals be reached with proven aggressors.
A report in Diario Libre indicates that 209 deals for release have been signed with violent aggressors in the National District, 121 with these in San Pedro de Macorís, 111 in Santiago, 68 in Hermanas Mirabal (Salcedo), 49 in Duarte (San Francisco de Macorís), 41 in San Juan de la Maguana, and 39 in Peravia (Baní).
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Diario Libre
7 November 2019