The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) is backing a call by newspapers in the Dominican Republic for changes in the rules that make defamation a crime. They say the criminalizing of defamation by the Law of Expression and Diffusion of Thought and the Penal Code violates the Constitution. <\/p>\n
Yesterday, Thursday 3 July 2014, the daily newspapers El Dia, Listin Diario, Diario Libre, El Nacional, Hoy, El Nuevo Diario and El Caribe published a petition addressing the judges of the Constitutional Court asking for the elimination of 11 articles in Law 6132 on Expression and Diffusion of Thought and five from the Penal Code, which they say are not compatible with the Constitution and the American Convention on Human Rights. The appeal, on the grounds of unconstitutionality was made on 25 February 2013. <\/p>\n
In a statement, the president of the Freedom of the Press and Information Commission, Claudio Paolillo, director of the Uruguayan weekly ‘Busqueda,’ said that, “the repeated requests from Dominican editors are in line with the decriminalization of defamation, a movement towards the freedom of the press and expression, which is being strengthened by jurisprudence and the opinions of the Court and the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, respectively”.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, the Constitutional Court (TC) reiterated its firm decision to guarantee the supremacy of the Constitution, the defense of constitutional orders and the fundamental rights of citizens. First deputy and acting president Leyda Margarita Pina Medrano conveyed the Court’s position. <\/p>\n
Read more in Spanish: http:\/\/www.diariolibre.com\/noticias\/2014\/07\/04\/i684241_sip-solidariza-con-medios-dominicanos-para-que-descriminalice-difamacin.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) is backing a call by newspapers in the Dominican Republic for changes in the rules that make defamation a crime. They say the criminalizing of defamation by the Law of Expression and Diffusion of Thought and the Penal Code violates the Constitution. Yesterday, Thursday 3 July 2014, the daily newspapers … <\/p>\n