Landmark ruling lets Dominicans accuse officials directly

Santo Domingo.- The Constitutional Court on Wed. ruled that citizens can denounce violations by officials and present their accusations or complaints independently or adhere to the one already submitted by the Justice Ministry.

Ruling TC / 0362/19 stipulates that hereinafter Article 85 of the Criminal Procedure Code conforms to the Constitution and adheres to the criteria of ruling TC / 0259/14, in which citizens can report the misconduct of the officials.

“The term of accusing jointly with the Justice Ministry must be interpreted as a discretionary prerogative of the citizen to present their accusations or complaints independently or to adhere to the one already presented by the Public Ministry.”

Legal pundit Eduardo Jorge Prats describes the sentence as “transcendental” because it extends “the popular criminal action to be exercised by the citizenship regardless of the Public Ministry.”

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