The Attorney General Office has the backing of the experience of the Spanish prosecution to strengthen local capacities to prosecute major crimes. The Attorney General Office announces the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (Aecid) is making available an additional EUR650,000 in funds to prosecute organized crime, government corruption and gender-based crimes.
Attorney General Miriam Germán Brito made the announcement at the auditorium of the Supreme Court of Justice on 12 June 2024. She highlighted that the new program is a milestone in the fight for justice in the Dominican Republic. “Today we are launching a project of vital importance, the result of the valuable cooperation between our Public Ministry and Aecid, an entity that has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to strengthening our institutions and the well-being of our people,” she said.
“We face complex and urgent challenges; corruption, organized crime and violence against women are evils that threaten the foundations of our society. However, in the Public Ministry we continue our efforts to contribute to a more just, efficient and transparent criminal justice system,” she added.
The attorney general stressed that thanks to the support of the Aecid already tangible progress has been achieved in recent years. “Through the various projects we have improved the quality of our services, created innovative protocols and instruments and trained our personnel to face more effectively the crimes that previously seemed untouchable,’ she said in valuing the cooperation. “All this has the advantage that it is germinating, even among the powerful, the idea that ‘I am not above the law,’ she said.
The new program aims to create the conditions for the Public Ministry (MP) of the Attorney General Office (PGR) to have an anti-corruption police force to strengthen the investigative capacities of the PGR. The head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca), Wilson Camacho, said that an anti-corruption police force will strengthen investigations into this type of crime.
Speaking at the launch of the project, Camacho said that today prosecutors have to carry out tasks that are proper to police activities when investigating corruption cases, and the same is true for most manifestations of organized crime, cases for which they lack a specialized police force.
He added that, once the conditions for an anti-corruption police force are created, the prosecution of these crimes will follow the model of the Spanish prosecutor’s office against corruption and organized crime.
“The program proposes to create the conditions for the Dominican Republic to have an anti-corruption police force, just like countries such as Spain and Italy,” he said.
The director of Persecution at the Attorney General Office, Adjunct Prosecutor Yeni Berenice Reynoso emphasized the objective is to shorten the time for reaching judicial sentences. She highlighted that in the past three years, the Public Ministry has carried out 23 operations against organized crime and a record of convictions with millionaire returns from the accusations.
Also attending the announcement were Spanish ambassador to the Dominican Republic Antonio Pérez Hernández; deputy attorneys general Yeni Berenice Reynoso and Wilson Camacho, heads of the Public Ministry’s General Directorate of Persecution and the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for the Persecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca), respectively; Ana Andrea Villa Camacho, who is in charge of the Public Ministry’s Department against Gender Violence; Manuel Alba Cano, general coordinator of Spanish Cooperation in the Dominican Republic, and Minister of Economy & Planning Pavel Isa Contreras.
Read more in Spanish:
Attorney General Office
Diario Libre
El Dia
13 June 2024