Elsa Gutiérrez, the defense lawyer for journalist Marino Zapete, says that the restrictions against the press coverage of the defamation and libel suit against her defendant are illegal. Only Noticias SIN was allowed to cover the case. Gutiérrez says the law establishes the trial is a public one and judges should only in very specific cases restrict media access, for example, in cases of rape.
“This case is diametrically opposite, on the contrary, we are dealing with a case of public interest, where a public denunciation made by a journalist is going to be debated,” she added. Gutiérrez spoke when interviewed on El Sol de los Sábados on Zol 106.5FM.
Meanwhile, journalist Edith Febles said during the same program that the suit needs to be followed by all the media because it is a situation that could affect any journalist. “In this process, it is about the documentation presented by a journalist on a public contract for more than RD$1 billion, signed by a former Minister of Public Works and the sister of the Attorney General,” said Febles. She made the point that the fact that the woman is the sister of the Attorney General would not be a relevant distinction, if it were not for the fact that it was up to the Attorney General, once the complaint was made, to investigate the case. The Attorney General Office has not shown any interest in investigating the case.
In the hearing on Friday, 24 January 2020, it was known that the judge considered irrelevant to the case the request for Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez and former Minister of Public Works Gonzalo Castillo to stand for questioning by the defense. Castillo, who signed the contract for the Ministry of Public Works, is now running for President of the Republic for the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD). The judge also ruled as irrelevant the testimony of others cited by the Zapete defense lawyer. Zapete presented evidence to the court of the irregularities in the contracting by the Ministry of Public Works for around US$14 million.
Zapete called for the recusal and disqualification of the judge Franny Gonzalez Castillo, arguing the refusal to hear the testimony of Jean Alain Rodriguez and Gonzalo Castillo meant he was not being subject to a fair trial. The case was sent to the Court of Appeals.
Journalist Huchi Lora said that for the evidence presented by journalist Marino Zapete in any other country, the government cabinet would have resigned.
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27 January 2020