The CPJ suspends bailiff who acted in Diario Libre

SANTO DOMINGO. The Council of the Judicial Power suspended the bailiff Leyvi Ali Nunez Diaz, from the Penal Chamber of the Court of Appeals of Santo Domingo, for her actions in the embargo - assault to which Diario Libre was subjected, "until the disciplinary process to which you have been submitted comes to an end." The decision was notified to the bailiff in letter Number 397276, signed by Justiniano Montero Montero, interim Director General of the Directorate General of Administration and the Judicial Career which has the responsibility for these issues.

The letter was received by the bailiff Nuñez Diaz on 14 October, as shown in a copy of the letter possessed by Diario Libre. In his notification, the interim Director General Montero Montero tells the acting bailiff that she is suspended "for the alleged mistake committed on the occasion of carrying out an executive embargo without the assistance of the Public Force, against the entity of the Diario Libre, which became a public scandal." And the notification adds that "the suspension will have affect starting from today Tuesday, 14 October 2014."

The notification was made with a copy to Carmen Melendez, the person in charge of the Division of Officers of Justice. The harassment to which Diario Libre was subjected on 9 and 10 October, by a mob of persons who tried to carry out an illegal embargo, was heard in the 70th Assembly of the Inter-American Press Society which is being held in Santiago, Chile.

The bailiff and the mob managed to take two vehicles from Diario Libre drivers, and they attempted to take a third, at a time when they were carrying out newspaper work," stressed a report on the country.