High Court upholds prison sentences in Paya Massacre

Santo Domingo.- The Supreme Courton Friday read its final verdict which upholds the 30, 20 and 10 year prison sentencesagainst the accused of killing seven Colombians in the village Ojo de Agua, Paya township, Baní, southern Peravia province on August 4, 2008.

National Appellate Court lead prosecutorFrancisco Polanco said the ruling puts an end to the drug trafficking andmurder case known as the Paya Massacre.

The high Court upheld thesentence of 30 years in prison against Luis de Jesus Lara Martinez, RicardoGuzman Perez, Miguel Peña Figuereo, Edward Mayobanex Rodriguez Montero, AntonioManuel Roche Pineda and Jorge Luis Chalas.

It also upheld the 20 year prisonsentence against Andres Tapia Balbuena, Yaneuri Manuel Calvo Tejada, DennisJairo Rodriguez Perez, the Nicaraguan Orin Clinton Gomez, and 10 years inprison against Scarly Aristy Rosa de Guzman and Jesus Sanchez Pina.

The defendants were found guiltyof the killing of the Colombians Darío José Atencio Vargas (aka El Jefe, ElDon, Cañarete), Eduardo de León (aka Negro Bollo, El Gordo), Jesús David DelRío Han (Blanquito) and Oscar Darío Naranjo Mejía (Fierrito), murdered in ashakedown over a major shipment of cocaine and a large sum in dollars.