(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 7 August 2000 IAPA press release: IAPA HAILS CONVICTION IN MURDER OF DOMINICAN JOURNALIST MIAMI, Florida (Aug. 7, 2000) – The Inter American Press Association today hailed the conviction of four people for the murder of a Dominican Republic magazine editor as an advance in the fight against the […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 7 August 2000 IAPA press release:
IAPA HAILS CONVICTION IN MURDER OF DOMINICAN JOURNALIST
MIAMI, Florida (Aug. 7, 2000) – The Inter American Press Association today hailed the conviction of four people for the murder of a Dominican Republic magazine editor as an advance in the fight against the impunity generally surrounding crimes against journalists.
The four were sentenced last week by a court in Santo Domingo, to a maximum prison term of 30 years for the March 1975 murder of Orlando Martínez, editor of Ahora magazine and a strong critic of the government. He was ambushed and shot to death. Although the crime was committed more than 25 years ago, the case remained open on the insistence of the local press that no matter how long it take those responsible should not be allowed to literally get away with murder.
The four defendants were all Dominican army officers or members of paramilitary groups.
They were sentenced to what amounts to life imprisonment by Judge Katia Jiménez and the sentence was widely welcomed locally. The four immediately lodged an appeal to the five-member Appeals Court.
“This is clearly a step forward against impunity,” said Rafael Molina, chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information and current editor of Ahora. “But unfortunately not all the guilty have been brought to trial.” He was referring to the fact that some of those behind the crime have yet to be identified and charged. Others were accused in the murder but have either died or had the charges against them dropped because of illness.
“Although the case is not fully over, this first step gives us comfort, because the conviction of generals and other high-ranking military officers would seem to mark the beginning of a new, more responsible and independent justice system in the Dominican Republic,” Molina added.
The conviction and stiff sentence “should serve as an example to other nations in the Western Hemisphere where crimes against journalists continue to go unpunished because, sadly, the long arm of justice has yet to reach out to all those who murder journalists and remain at large in various countries in the Americas,” he declared.
