The Court of Appeals of the National District annulled the ruling that sentenced convicted Argenis Contreras for the death of lawyer Yuniol Ramirez in October 2021.
In the case, the judges had exempted the former director of the government bus company, OMSA, Manuel Rivas from criminal charges in the murder of lawyer Yuniol Ramirez.
The Court of Appeals presented arguments that there were errors in both the evaluation of the evidence and interpretation of the facts in the case.
The second chamber of the criminal chamber of the Court of Appeal of the National District, made up of judges Luis Omar Jiménez Rosa, Rosalba Garib Holguín and Delio Germán Figueroa, heard the appeals filed by Contreras and by the Special Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca) against sentence 249-04-2022-SSEN-00158, issued by the Second Collegiate Court of the Criminal Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the National District in September 2022.
In the appealed sentence, Contreras was sentenced to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of the crimes of homicide and concealment of a corpse.
Faustino Rosario Díaz was also sentenced to one year in prison and five years disqualified from public office, whom he considered guilty of the crime of mixing with matters incompatible with his duties.
In the ruling, the judge declared the acquittal of the former director of the Omsa, Manuel Antonio Rivas Medina (with accusations of corruption and bribery), José Antonio Mercado Blanco (a) El Grande and Víctor Elisander Ravelo Campos, Heidy Carolina Peña, Lilian Francisca Suárez Jáquez and Jorge Luis Abreu Fabián, due to insufficient evidence.
The Court of Appeals decision could open up the case for future hearings.
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Diario Libre
19 February 2024