The judge of the Second Court of Instruction of the National District Patricia Padilla has sent the former president of the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD), retired vice-admiral Felix Alburquerque Comprés to trial. He is accused of the murder of 45-year old Manuel Tavarez Duncan. Alburquerque Comprés was director of the DNCD during the Danilo Medina administration.
The court partially accepted the accusation of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The court, nevertheless, rejected the murder (voluntary manslaughter) category requested by the prosecutors and instead categorized the killing as a voluntary homicide (aggravated homicide) as requested by the defense counsel.
The military is accused of shooting and killing the sports communicator Manuel Tavarez Duncan in a confusing incident that occurred in the early morning of 19 August 2022. The actual killing was captured on a videotaped shared extensively on social media.
The Tavarez Duncan family lawyers disagreed with the categorization accepted by the judge. “We understand that in the trial this should be corrected, because what was committed against Tavarez Duncan was a murder and not a pure and simple homicide committed with a weapon that does not appear,” said Domingo Ramirez, the lawyer for the Tavarez Duncan family.
Following the shooting, the retired military did not make available the weapon he used to perform the killing. “If the weapon has not appeared, it is because the weapon is illegal,” said the lawyer for the Tavarez Duncan family.
Nevertheless, the judge resolved on Monday, 8 May 2023 that there had not been a violation to the weapons law as the Public Prosecutor’s Office maintained.
In the indictment it is detailed that the retired military, after a heated discussion with Tavarez Duncan in a fast food establishment located on Núñez de Cáceres Avenue, went to his vehicle, a Mercedes-Benz, to look for a weapon and returned firing several shots at the victim. When the later fled, he searched for him and caught up with him (Tavárez Duncan), got out of his car again and proceeded to shoot him in the chest. The injured victim fell face down on the pavement, and when he was already on the ground, Alburquerque fired a second shot and then fled the scene of the crime.
Tavárez Duncan, as well as the other people who were in the hot dog stand at the moment, fled to hide from the shots.
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Diario Libre
Noticias SIN
9 May 2023