Judge Katia Miguelina Jimenez issued the maximum penalty in her judgment against the four accused of the murder of newsweekly magazine editor and El Nacional newspaper columnist, 31-year old Orlando Martinez in March 1975. Retired general Antonio Pou Castro, Rafael Alfredo Lluberes and Mariano Cabrera Duran and Luis Emilio De la Rosa Beras were sentenced to 30 years for being the material authors of the death of the journalist. The later were also sentenced to pay the expenses of the trial and to make a payment of RD$5 million to Luis Emigdio and Nilson Martínez, brothers of Orlando Martínez for moral and material damages suffered. The case was capped at the level of the late José Isidoro Martínez González, who at the time of the murder had the rank of colonel and was chief of the A2 Secret Service Department of the Air Force at the time. Martínez González was not sentenced, as his recent death relieved him from being tried. The next higher ranked military, retired General Salvador Lluberes Montás (at the time Minister of the Air Force), accused as intellectual author of the crime, had earlier been relieved from participating in the trial for health reasons. The judgement was issued at 12:20 am. The District Attorney Francisco Dominguez Brito had requested 30 years for Pou Castro, 20 years for Lluberes Ricart and Cabrera Duran and three years for De la Rosa. Domínguez said the murder had been planned, as it was clear the journalist had been followed from his work, crashed into and then shot. He said Pou Castro was contacted on 8 March, and the crime took place on 17 March. He said circumstances discard the possibility of the intent being to beat up the journalist. He specially highlighted the presence of José Isidoro Martínez of the secret service. "There are many elements that prove that the action against the journalist was prepared and analyzed several days before, because they understood that he threatened economic privileges of certain persons," said Domínguez Brito, as reported in Hoy newspaper. Judge Jiménez rejected continuing on with the trial to higher up echelons of government. The lawyers representing the Orlando Martinez family requested a supplementary trial to ascertain implications in the crime of former President Joaquín Balaguer and retired generals Ramón Emilio Jiménez Reyes, Enrique Pérez y Pérez, Robinson Brea Garó, Ernesto Cruz Brea, Ramón Abreu Rodríguez. The family has also requested testimony by Victor Gómez Bergés (who reportedly alerted Martínez shortly before his death that he could be murdered), lawyer Ramón Pina Acevedo, and the late Felix Manuel Vargas Taveras. The lawyers say that the trial demonstrated different degrees of responsibility in the crime or cover up compromising these. The lawyers reiterated once again that former President Balaguer knows who the intellectual authors are. They also requested a status report on Salvador Lluberes Montás, relieved from attending the trial due to health reasons, and who supposedly is resting in his La Romana residence. The lawyers of the sentenced four said they would appeal the sentence. Carlos Balcacer and Frank Reynaldo Fermín, who represent Pou Castro, said that the crime had prescribed, and that the murder was committed in self-defense. Journalist Martínez legally ported a gun. Lawyers Juan Martes Perez and Juan Maria Castillo representing De la Rosa Beras said that the District Attorney did not present incriminating proofs. Julio Alberico Hernandez, representing Lluberes Ricart said the murder was committed in self-defense, and requested amnesty. Griselda Rosa and Ruben Rosa, representing Cabrera Durán requested the case be dismissed because it had expired. They maintain their client should be released because he was carrying out orders from a legitimate authority in his condition of an army corporal. Meanwhile, El Siglo published a comment by Rafael Alfredo Lluberes Ricart (one of the sentenced to 30 years): "Looks like justice is only for some, not for others." For more on the crime see: http://www.dr1.com/daily/news072700.shtml http://www.dr1.com/daily/news072800.shtml http://www.dr1.com/daily/news080100.shtml http://www.dr1.com/daily/news080200.shtml http://www.dr1.com/daily/news080300.shtml
