Prosecutor suggests a witness protection program

Santo Domingo.- National District prosecutor Alejandro Moscoso Thursday proposed the creation of a witnesses and victims protection program to guarantee their presence in court.

When asked abut the death threats to three witnesses in the case of the alleged gunmen on Puerto Rican kingpin Jose Figueroa Agosto’s payroll, the official affirmed that it won’t undermine the prosecution’s case, noting that in addition to testimonies, there’s documentary evidence to convict the accused in the murders of colonel Jose Amado Gonzalez, the restaurateur Rubén Soto Hayet and Omar Antigua. “The waiver for those witnesses doesn’t concern us, because the evidence par excellence is material and not testimonial.”

Moscoso said a bill now in Congress would allow the State to guarantee witnesses’ presence in the hearings, as in other countries.

He added that just as, Ronny Yodenny Perez Jerez, Sol Threeny Valera Ventura and Jose Ramon Almonte, witnesses in the case of the alleged killers, those in the Figueroa case were also threatened, via text messages.