In a written statement released Saturday through his press office, President Leonel Fern?ndez condemned the apparent execution by police of three supposed "delinquents" in Cayetano Germos?n, Moca and ordered National Police (PN) chief, Major General Pedro de Jes?s Candelier Tejada, to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident. He also ordered the chief to take steps to ensure that all officers respect the human rights of everyone, including supposed "delinquents" being apprehended or in their custody. Abuses of human rights by the police, he declared, "will not be tolerated in the Dominican Republic." The DR is a country ruled by laws, and constitutional protections extend even to private persons "surprised in the commission of a flagrant crime." The courts, not the police or the Armed Forces, should decide who is guilty and what their punishment should be, he declared. He ordered the PN chief to instruct all police officers in how to respect human rights during the course of doing their duty. Last Thursday the local police announced that the three men had been killed during a shoot-out with police. Witnesses disputed the account, saying the men had been taken alive from the scene by police. Soon a local television station turned up an amateur videotape made by a student which clearly showed the men in question, alive and handcuffed, being herded into the back of a police truck.
