Contrary to what the general public was lead to believe by former Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez, Argenis Contreras, a main suspect in the murder of lawyer and UASD university professor Yuniol Ramirez, was never requested in extradition from the United States.
After fleeing DR justice, Contreras was arrested in 2018 in the US for violation of the US migration law. Prosecutors now say former Attorney General Rodríguez just never requested Contreras’ return after his whereabouts were known.
The Attorney General Office now under Attorney General Miriam German explains in a press release actions taken in the high profile murder and corruption case. The Attorney General Office says: “Upon verifying that Contreras Gonzalez had not been requested for extradition, the current management of the Attorney General’s Office made the necessary arrangements to negotiate with the authorities of the United States the delivery of the accused, also involved in acts of corruption in the Metropolitan Office of Bus Services (OMSA), entity in which he was in charge of Purchasing and Contracting during the management of Manuel Rivas.”
The brief states that the proceedings to bring the accused to the country intensified in November 2020. By 22 December 2020, the then fugitive was denied the appeal in the immigration process in the United States, as well as the motions pending a decision in the Second Circuit Court, including one in which he sought the suspension of his deportation to continue evading Dominican justice. Altagracia Salazar in her Sin Maquillaje talk show on 4 February asks who paid for the expensive legal services that kept Contreras in the United States.
Argenis Contreras was the head of Purchasing and Contracting at the OMSA at the time of the murder. He is accused in the murder of the professor whose body was found with a thick chain around his neck tied to a block in a river stream off Duarte Highway Km 14 near the community of Caballona in Santo Domingo West on 12 October 2017. He is also accused of corrupt actions at the state bus company.
Argenis Contreras arrived on 2 February 2021 on a flight accompanied by US Marshals agents and other deportees.
After an interrogation of several hours at the Attorney General’s Office, Contreras Gonzalez was transferred overnight under strict security measures to the Palace of Justice of Ciudad Nueva’s preventive jail. The questioning continued on Wednesday, 3 February.
The brother of Yuniol Ramírez, Ramón Ramírez says prosecutors Olga Diná and Rosalba Ramos covered up the murder and gave priority in the investigative phase to corruption in the Medina administration, as reported in Hoy. He is hopeful the testimony of Contreras will turn around the case.
Read more:
Hoy
Altagracia Salazar Sin Maquillaje
3 February 2021