Transport union boss to trial for underworld executions

Santo Domingo.- A National District court on Friday ordered a criminal trial against transport union leader, Arsenio Quevedo, former city councilman Erickson de los Santos and four others charged with the murders of several members of a rival syndicate.

7th Instruction Court judge Kenya Romero also upheld the pretrial detention against codefendants Amaurys Cabrera; Felix Lora; Cristino Batista and Danilo Octavio Reynoso.

The court however dismissed the charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder.

National District prosecutor Yeni Berenice Reynoso had sought an indictment of the suspects In March last year.

The prosecution accuses Quevedo, head of the Unatrafin union and codefendants, of executing rivals who operated bus routes across the country since 2008, including Mateo Nieves de Jesus, Overnys Guerrero and Angel Javier.

It said Unatrafin leaders ordered the executions with hired assassins, among them Cabrera, a former sergeant. The defense denies the charges.