Proposed legislation: No prison sentence for slander

Santo Domingo.- Chamber of Deputies Justice Commission president Demostenes Martinez said Sunday that the prison sentence for slander was removed from the draft to reform the Penal Code.

He it’s unconstitutional for a person to go to jail because of libel and slander. "In the report submitted by the Justice Committee, prison for libel and slander disappears, we do this so media directors know that the report already contains these provisions, and they’ll be only fines, not jail."

Interviewed by Federico Mendez on ‘Esferas de Poder’, the lawmaker said the report establishes fines for libel ranging from one to three minimum wages and up to 10 minimum wages for defamation.

Martinez said the proposed legislation could favor t the editors of newspaper Listin Diario, Miguel Franjul, El Caribe, Osvaldo Santana, and El Dia, Rafael Molina Morillo, who face slander charges filed in the Constitutional Court, and if convicted fact possible prison terms.

He said the concerns of media directors is justified, because in criminal matters, others should pay for some else’s actions. "A media director can not be responsible for a journalist who works in that medium, because it’s unconstitutional, in criminal matters its ‘the individual’s responsibility of each person on these actions."