Miguelina Mendoza Ramirez, a judge in the Criminal Court in San Pedro de Macoris has announced that the prison authorities acted illegally in cutting rap singer Vakero’s hair after he was sentenced to preventive custody in San Pedro de Macoris.
She made the announcement following a complaint presented by Vakero, whose real name is Manuel Varet Martes, via his lawyer Manuel Moquete, saying that the haircut violated article 43 of the Constitution that establishes the freedom of conscience and culture.
Vakero is on three months remand in the Correction and Rehabilitation Center in San Pedro, after being accused of physical violence by his wife, singer Martha Heredia and asked them not to cut his dreadlocks as he was a Rastafarian and it was against his religion to cut his hair.
The judge went on to order the authorities at the jail, where his hair was cut a month ago, to refrain from cutting it further.
www.listindiario.com/entretenimiento/2013/2/20/266642/Declara-inconstitucional-medida-ordena-cortarle-elpelo-a-Vakero