Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.- The judge of the Third Instruction Court of the National District, Amauris Martínez, varied the preventive prison and imposed house arrest against the former Attorney General of the Republic, Jean Alain Rodríguez, accused of being the main protagonist of a fraud against the State that has been judicially typified as “Medusa case“.
The Magistrate imposed on the former official an economic guarantee of 50 million pesos, under a contract modality, as well as a ban on leaving the country and the obligation to use an electronic bracelet.
The full reading of the sentence regarding this phase of the case was set for February 15 at 3:00 p.m. in this same court. “Good evening and God bless you all,” was all the former attorney general said after being favored with house arrest. After this decision was announced, he was effusively congratulated by his wife and other relatives who were present at the hearing.
They stated that the deadline has expired
The lawyers of the former Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez, in prison for alleged corruption during his tenure, demanded his release, arguing that on January 8 the preventive prison period of 18 months imposed by Judge Kenya Romero on July 8, 2021 expired.
The preventive prison “came to an end” so, in the opinion of the officials’ lawyers, “it is appropriate for immediate release and that any trial against him take place in freedom, as established by criminal procedural regulations.”
Didn’t take into account Yeni Berenice’s opinion
Judge Amauris Martínez made the decision on Tuesday despite the fact that the Director of Prosecution of the Public Ministry, Yeni Berenice Reynoso, had argued that ruling on the cessation of preventive prison against Jean Alain Rodríguez would be “rewarding those who obstruct justice, those who abuse the law.”
“That is not justice, that may be anything, but that is not justice,” she said.
She argued that three people involved in the process are under the witness protection system due to “threats they have received” from the former attorney general, who supposedly went so far as to offer one of them a million pesos not to testify against him.
The accusation
The alleged corruption network led by Rodríguez managed more than 1,000 million pesos in bribes, according to the Public Ministry, which baptized this case as ‘Operation Medusa’.
The Public Ministry presented the formal accusation regarding this case in July, which includes 41 defendants and 22 companies, as well as more than 400 witnesses.
The hearing began on August 13, but was postponed to December 19, when the judge in charge decided to postpone it again until February 24.
Rodríguez, who was the Attorney General of the Republic between 2016 and 2020, has repeatedly denied the accusations against him.
