So far, the hierarchy in the Chamber of Deputies has defended legislators that have been accused yet not sentenced with major crimes, including drug trafficking and money laundering. A handful of deputies with cases pending continue to receive their wages and continue to attend the sessions, as if nothing had happened. Several of these also seek to run for office again in the 2024 elections. The deputies defend their colleagues saying these people have not been sentenced.
Yet, Diario Libre expresses that the Chamber of Deputies does have a mechanism to remove the very questioned legislators from their role as makers of Dominican laws, before a sentence is achieved in one of a lengthy trial.
For instance, Diario Libre reports that the Chamber of Deputies, through its Disciplinary Council, can dispose of the seat and strip legislator Miguel Gutiérrez, who is in prison in in Miami on drug trafficking accusations, of his investiture since May 2021.
Diario Libre explains that the Disciplinary Council can penalize deputies for “unjustified absences.” This is having missed more than 70% of the sessions of an ordinary legislature. Since May 2021 the deputy has been in Florida under arrest.
In accordance with section 2 of the Legislative Procedures Manual of the Chamber of Deputies, at the end of each session a list will be published with the names of legislators absent without excuse and when the absence is constant, a team can analyze unjustified absences to start a “mandatory” disciplinary process that would end with the removal of the legislator, reports Diario Libre.
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Diario Libre
5 September 2023