Outrage at jail sentence, fine against journalist

Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Journalists Guild (CDP) president yesterday called a Nagua (north) judge’s 6-month jail sentence and RD$1.0 million fine against the journalist Johnny Salazar, a serious attack against media exercise in a democratic society.

Aurelio Henríquez said the sentence violates the right to freedom of expression and “has neither legal base nor justification.”

“Not one piece of evidence appeared in that court to back the charges of libel and slander, made by the lawyer and leader of Miuca (political party), Pedro Baldera, who has been linked to Nagua’s worst political and economic interests to conspire against an honest and responsible journalist, such as Johnny Alberto Salazar,” who heads the community radio station Vida FM.

Meanwhile EFE said Reporters Without Borders called the sentence against the Nagua journalist “dangerous and out of proportion.”

“Regardless of the veracity the incriminating statements, we consider the sentence out of proportion and in itself dangerous, which violates the American Convention on Human Rights,” Reporters said RSF in a statement.