The Chamber of Deputies accepted the request of Minister of Defense Lieutenant General Carlos Luciano Diaz Morfa to reinstate the privilege of military courts and jails for criminal offenses of the military and the police. The Constitutional Court had ruled the privilege violated the Constitution.
Recently, Army Mayor Raul Girón Jiménez, the whistleblower in the Coral Operation corruption case against the former security chief of former President Danilo Medina, Lieutenant General Adan Cáceres, had explained the comforts and privileges for the military when the internal courts heard their criminal cases. Cáceres is in jail at the Najayo Jail, a new penitentiary regular men’s jail.
Altagracia Salazar, on her Sin Maquillaje talk show on 7 July 2021, remarked on the inclusion of the privileged criminal hearing jurisdiction after receiving the tip from a group of lawyers that is reviewing the almost 400 clauses included in the Penal Code. Salazar expressed her concern that the Senate could keep the privilege given the internal movements to remove Eduardo Estrella from the presidency of the Senate.
Earlier last week, social media went live when noticing the inclusion of an article in the newly passed Penal Code that would seem to legalize discrimination in the Dominican Republic. The absurd last-minute clause would enable businesses to restrict who gets in discriminating for gender or sexual orientation.
More details on what the legislators have passed in the Penal Code will be forthcoming as knowledgeable persons review what passed in the Chamber of Deputies.
Read more in Spanish:
Altagracia Salazar
Diario Libre
Raul Giron on privileges of the military
7 July 2021