Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito has reiterated his call for a retrial of the four men who were acquitted in the case of engineer Francina Hungria, who was shot and blinded during an armed robbery in Santo Domingo last year. He said that all the evidence presented by the prosecutors had been clear and decisive. Dominguez Brito said that the gun that was used, videos, and even confessions from the accused were presented. “If for the judges who heard the case proof is to find the accused in the act of killing a person, then it will be difficult to convict and sentence anyone responsible for crimes,” said Dominguez after an event organized by the Dominican Gastroenterology Society yesterday, Thursday 13 February.
Judges Sarah Veras, Ingrid Soraya Hernandez and Yisell Soto said that the case was not well prepared and that it failed to convincingly link the acquitted men to the case. They said that newspaper cuttings were presented as evidence.
Dominguez asked whether the judges would be able to show their faces if one of the men they acquitted in the armed robbery that blinded Hungria injures another defenseless person.
Dominguez Brito expressed his concern about similar cases of impunity that have occurred in Santiago. He said that known contract killers and drug traffickers with links to drug cartels have been acquitted by the courts.
When journalists asked if the judges would be submitted to disciplinary trial, Dominguez said that was the role of the Judicial Branch Board. He said that the role of the prosecutors was limited to appealing the case.
A court sentenced Jose Manuel Vidal Felix (Memin) known to have shot the gun that blinded Francina Hungria to 30 years in prison, but acquitted Melvin Perez (Bululo), Jose Miguel Mora Acosta (Gordo), Celso Gonalez Montero (Nariz) and Jose Manuel Arias Mejia (Bacan).
www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2014/2/13/310688/Dice-hay-pruebas-en-caso-Francina