Supreme Court upholds record compensation for victim of unjust detention in the Dominican Republic

Santo Domingo.- The Third Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), with Justice Rafael Vásquez Goico as rapporteur, has rejected the appeal filed by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) and upheld the ruling ordering the Dominican State to pay RD$10,912,792 to Affe Gutiérrez Gil, who suffered prolonged and unjust pretrial detention and serious human rights violations.

The decision, issued on August 29, 2025, confirms the Superior Administrative Court’s (TSA) previous judgment and represents the largest compensation ever granted in Dominican judicial history for wrongful preventive detention. Gutiérrez’s legal team — Carlos Moreno, Manuela Ramírez, and Zaida Carrasco — hailed the ruling as “a milestone in strengthening the State’s patrimonial responsibility.”

Gutiérrez described the outcome as bittersweet, noting that “no amount of money can recover the lost years,” and lamented that the prosecuting authorities “have never apologized for the abuse committed.”

His ordeal began in 2008, shortly after his marriage to journalist Sarah Pepén, when he was expelled from the National Police and accused of homicide without sufficient evidence. In 2009, he was placed in pretrial detention for over two and a half years, until a witness admitted having been bribed to falsely incriminate him. During his imprisonment, Gutiérrez endured assassination attempts, went on hunger strikes, and became a father while behind bars.

In 2020, Gutiérrez filed a lawsuit against the PGR, seeking RD$100 million in damages for the physical, psychological, and professional harm he endured. The TSA ruled in his favor, finding that the State acted arbitrarily and abusively, and ordered compensation for moral and material damages.

By upholding this decision, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that the State bears responsibility for the harm caused by arbitrary and prolonged preventive detention. Gutiérrez’s defense concluded, “This sentence cannot return the lost years, but it restores dignity and sets a historic precedent for justice in the Dominican Republic.”