OAS » IACHR » Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression » Domincan Republic

Freedom of Expression

Domincan Republic

            Judicial actions

 

            281.     On January 29, 2003, the Director of the Dominican Port Authority (Apordom), Arsenio Borges, filed a suit for defamation and injuria against journalist Julio Martínez Pozo for his comments on the program “The Government in the Morning,” broadcast on the radio station Z-101.  The director of the radio station, Willy Rodríguez, was also included in the accusation.[1]

 

            282.     On July 25, 2003, announcers for Radio Montecristi, in the province of Montecristi, Emilio Lemoine and Carlos Martínez, were arrested by soldiers from the Army and taken to the offices of the National Investigations Department (DNI), in the city of Santo Domingo, to be questioned on “national security matters.”  On July 28, the media were told that these young men would be brought before the courts, and that they were being accused of violating Articles 367 and 368 of the Criminal Code, which establishes sanctions for defamation and injuria[2] for having offended President Hipólito Mejía on a radio show.  They conducted a radio survey, asking the listeners: “if the elections were held today, who would you vote for, Hipólito or the Devil?”  The announcers were released after being detained for three days.  No charges were pressed.[3]

 

            283.     On July 8, 2003, the program Frente al Pueblo, transmitted by TV Cable San Juan, and hosted by journalist José Manuel Adames Sánchez, was shut down by decision of Faruk Garib, Arbaje, governor of the province of San Juan de la Maguana, after President Mejía’s desire to get re-elected was criticized.  On July 14, Judge César Sánchez ordered that the program be resumed after learning of a recurso de amparo presented by the journalist’s defense counsel to have the measure lifted.  The judge dismissed a motion by Adames Sánchez claiming that Garib Arbaje should pay 500,000 pesos for each day that the program had been off the air.[4]

 

            284.     The Rapporteurship received information on the May 2003 seizure, by the Public Ministry, of the facilities of Editora Listín Diario, C. por A., the Dominican business enterprise responsible for publishing the newspapers Listín Diario—which leads in circulation in the Dominican Republic—as well as Última Hora, El Expreso, and El Financiero.  The seizure took place in relation to an alleged fraud at the Banco Intercontinental (BANINTER), which owns the publishing company.  Incidents reflecting labor-management tensions were reported as a result of the seizure.[5]

 

            285.     The publishing company filed a recurso de amparo challenging the seizure of its facilities, which was ruled on favorably in the first instance on July 29, 2003.  The Attorney General was ordered to immediately return the assets taken from the publishing company.[6]

 

            286.     The judgment on the amparo that ordered the return of the Editora Listín Diario to Ramón Báez Romano was provisional until September 17, after the Court of Appeals of the Civil and Commercial Chamber considered that Judge Samuel Arias Arzeno, who handed down the judgment, overstepped the bounds of his authority as provided by law.[7]

 

            287.     The Rapporteurship will continue observing the judicial proceeding in relation to the Listín Diario and will continue to consider reports received that suggest that the judicial action is being used to influence the paper’s editorial line.

 

            Detentions

 

            288.     On June 11, 2003, four officers of the National Investigations Department (DNI, by its Spanish acronym) and one assistant prosecutor appeared at the home of journalist Marino Zapete Corniel and asked him to accompany them to the DNI.  There they questioned him for more than five hours and accused him of insulting President Hipólito Mejía in a series of articles.  Zapete worked for the online newspaper Los Nuevos Tiempos Digital (Miami-based) and for the local weekly Primicias.  During the two months prior to the questioning, Zapete had written articles for both publications in which he criticized Mejía for his handling of the financial collapse of the Banco Intercontinental (BANINTER) and for the alleged use of government funds to build a country home in the town of Jaracoba.  Zapete was released in the afternoon, when the DNI approached the president’s press secretary, Luis González Fabra, to report that Mejía had instructed that he be released.  The Rapporteur sent a letter to the journalist asking for information.  In this letter, the Rapporteur said that the detention of a journalist for comments made on the activity of the public administration inhibits open debate, which is needed for the proper functioning of democratic institutions.

 

            289.     On June 12, 2003, President Mejía informed the local press that he would bring suit against Zapete, though he ultimately refrained from doing so.  On June 14, the president showed his country home under construction and said that in due course he would release a report on all the investments he has made in it, without using any government funds.[8]

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