The Santo Domingo province court under Judge Leonarda Quezada meets on Thursday, 19 October 2017 at 2pm to hear pre-trial custody measures against the three suspects involved in the murder of UASD law professor Yuniol Ramirez that took place in Santo Domingo on Wednesday, 11 October 2017. A fourth suspect, Argenis Contreras, is believed to have traveled to the United States.
The media has shared the written statement to the case prosecutors by Jose Antonio Mercado Blanco (El Grande) who participated in the kidnapping of Ramirez and has said that Argenis Contreras fired the deathly gunshot. Both were employees at the Oficina Metropolitana de Servicios de Autobuses (Omsa) state bus agency.
Yuniol Ramírez was murdered on Wednesday, 11 October 2017. On the next day, Thursday, 12 October he had a scheduled hearing against the Omsa bus agency and later cancelled director Manuel Rivas. Ramírez had demanded the delivery of documents regarding Omsa suppliers.
Listin Diario and other media have published a chronology of events. Here is the English version.
6 June 2017
Yuniol Ramírez asks the Omsa for information on their suppliers, persons in hire, and reconstructed buses. The request is made supported by Free Information Act. The request was received by Silvia Durán. Incomplete documentation was provided.
19 June
Yuniol Ramírez sends an act of bailiff, via Manuel E. Batista, repeating the request for the purchase orders to the companies Martisdom, Tech Solution, Venditio Line, Josafap Inversiones, Soluciones Thiaubaa for bus reconstructions. He also requested the Omsa contracts for Eddy Santana and Lillian Suárez.
4 July
Yuniol Ramirez sends another act of bailiff, signed by Manuel E. Batista, requesting information from Omsa on grounds of the Free Information Act. He requests certificates of the repair of buses.
13 September
Yuniol Ramírez filed with the Superior Administrative Court (TSA), the government court in charge of reviewing the correctness of government actions, a recourse for violation of the right to information, in the name of the Convergencia Nacional de Abogados (CONA). He had requested the contracts signed with Omsa suppliers Eddy Santana and Lilian Suarez.
A day in September
José Antonio Mercado Blanco “El Grande,” admitted to the authorities that a day in September (he did not specify the date) he went to the UASD main campus in Santo Domingo accompanied by Argenis Contreras. In his confession he said that the visit was to check out the owner of a black SUV.
28 September
The Superior Administrative Court (TSA) sets the date for the first hearing for 28 September in reply to the request made by Yuniol Ramírez of Cona. On the same day, it reschedules the hearing for 12 October 2017.
2 October
Yuniol Ramírez is convened to a meeting in the lobby of the Hotel Embajador where, according to statements by the accused, the “negotiations” began.
4 October
Another meeting was held at the Hotel Embajador so that an offer could be made to the lawyer so the later desist from the legal case. Present at that meeting was businessman Eddy Santana Zorrilla, who supposedly was sent by Manuel Rivas to reach an agreement, in case it were necessary, on the sum so the lawyer desisted from the legal action.
6 October
Police colonel Faustino Rosario Díaz, also Omsa financial manager, would have agreed with businessman Santana Zorrilla that to deliver the advance of RD$1 million he would be accompanied by Argenis Contreras, personal assistant to the now cancelled Omsa director, Manuel Rivas.
State prosecutors say that on 6 October the advance payment was delivered in a fuel station located on Av. Rómulo Betancourt.
11 October
Argenis Contreras González and Mercado Blanco (El Grande) meet in a parking area of the UASD waiting for the law professor to finish his classes to kidnap him.
The prosecutors say that Contreras González called the professor so that he leave the classroom. It is known he cut the class short. Once they get close, Argenis Contreras speaks to him and Mercado Blanco grabs him by the back and forces him inside the Ford Ranger pickup, while he is held up by firearm.
The route used by the vehicle was captured by 911 surveillance cameras.
Lawyer Yuniol Ramírez is reported missing. His vehicle was found parked in the university.
12 October
The body of Yuniol Ramírez is found near Manoguayabo River on the same day the case he carried against the Omsa would have been heard at the Superior Administrative Court (TSA).
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
19 October 2017
