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 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
IAPAs 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.
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