Mob tries to intimidate Dominican Republic’s top newspaper

Santo Domingo.- A mob including some people wielding weapons arrived at the building of newspaper Diario Libre in downtown Santo Domingo Thursday, with the intent to execute a RD$500,000 lien without prior notice, as the result of a lawsuit filed by commentator Raúl Pérez Peña (Bacho), over a published ad .

Pérez’s lawyers obtained the Supreme Court ruling on 7 October, and without notifying the newspaper and without the police, the group demanded payment in cash and legal expenses.

Diario Libre’s attorneys opposed the measure as illegal and filed a restraining order to repeal the lien.

Pérez Peña’ lawsuit against Diario Libre stems from a space paid by the Testimony Foundation, which announces his expulsion from that organization.

The commentator sued Diario Libre, claiming that the publication had caused him moral damage.

But Diario Libre sought to justify the publication and filed a challenge in court, which ruled against the newspaper and ordered it to pay RD$500,000 in damages.

“Because it’s a decision which affects fundamental rights such as the freedom of expression, Diario Libre plans to take the case to the Constitutional Court,” the country’s leading news source said in a report of the incident.