Dominican Republic high courts face local, foreign ´slanderers´

Santo Domingo.- ConstitutionalCourt chief justice Milton Ray Guevara on Wednesday denounced an attempt toimpose "a sort of cultural imperialism" in the country to force the highcourts to hand down rulings contrary to the Constitution´s values ??andprinciples, by local and foreign slanderers.

He said since the HighCourts were established, a few politicians, some civil society groups and powerfulinternational organizations "supposedly dedicated to the promotion ofhuman rights and the rule of law" have continued to fiercely attack theheads of the Judicial Branch formed by the Electoral (TSE), Supreme (SCJ) and Constitutional(TC) courts.

He said in the TC´s case,last year those groups went as far as weaving slanderous speculation about its three rulingson challenges against the new Penal Code on constitutional grounds.

Guevara said a smearcampaign against the TC including the spread of falsehoods about rulings thatdeclared the Code unconstitutional due to procedural errors, without awaiting theentire publication.

He said he was shocked withpontifications and reviews of something that wasn’t known, which he called an unprofessionalway to contribute to the rule of law and democratic institutions.

"None of theentities issued a retraction of their infamies published after the rulingbecame clear that their criticism wasn’t a legitimate exercise of socialcontrol of the judicial function, but rather media pressure against thedignity, investiture and the role of judges in an attempt to twist theirdecisions."

He called all the allegationsagainst the TC´s rulings “a big lie,” adding that´s not the way to criticizejudicial decisions under the rule of law.