The legal defense of several involved in the case of the murder of lawyer Yuniol Ramírez Ferreras and acts of corruption in the Metropolitan Bus Services Office (OMSA) They rejected the sentences of 30, 20 and 5 years in prison that the Public Ministry requested yesterday from the Second Collegiate Court of the National District.
The Public Ministry requested yesterday the maximum sentence of 30 years for Argenis Contreras, and 20 years for the former director of the OMSA, Manuel Rivas, Faustino Rosario, Víctor Ravelo Campos, and José Antonio Mercado Blanco, and 5 years for Jorge Luis Abreu, Heidy Carolina Peña, and Lilian Francisca Suárez Jáquez.
The lawyers of the defendants today began the presentation of their conclusions, in the continuation of the substantive trial before the Second Collegiate Court, made up of judges Claribel Nivar Arias, president, Yissel Soto and Clara Sobeida Castillo.
The first to expose was the lawyer Bunel Ramírez, who represents José Antonio Mercado Blanco (El Grande).
Lawyer Ramírez asked the court to reject the accusation of the Public Ministry, considering that it was not proven.
In this sense, he asked that the Mercado Blanco prison be declared illegal, that the evidence obtained against him be null and void, and that he be released.
He stated that with respect to his client, the investigation has been unserious and inconsistent.
Exaggeration
On his side, the lawyer Carlos Salcedo, defense of the former director of the OMSA, Manuel Rivas, considered exaggerated and shameful the sentence of 20 years requested by the Public Ministry for his client.
He maintained that all the things requested by the Public Ministry They are contrary to what the tests showed.
He said that what is appropriate is the declaration of acquittal and the discharge of Rivas and that consequently the court orders the cessation of all measures of coercion that weigh on him.
The defenses of other defendants also refuted the accusations of the Public Ministry and requested the discharge of their clients.
The trial is in the final stage. The presentation of the defense of other defendants is scheduled for Monday, including that of Argenis Contreras, the main defendant in the death of lawyer Yuniol Ramírez.
crime and corruption
The Public Ministry links the crime of lawyer Yuniol Ramírez, in October 2017, with acts of administrative corruption in the management of Manuel Rivas since August 2012.
On Friday, court attorney Mirna Ortiz, Litigation coordinator of the Specialized Attorney for the Persecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca), stated that in the process the Public Ministry has demonstrated in court the criminal responsibility of all the accused.
Ramírez Ferreras was found dead with a concrete block tied to his neck by a chain, in a stream in Hato Nuevo, Santo Domingo Oeste.
After the fact, Argenis Contreras fled to the United States, where he was captured and three years later handed over to the country after the efforts of the current management of the Public Ministry.