Ángel Martínez reports that electronic shackle affects his cardiac health

Santiago.– The communicator Ángel Martínez denounced that the electronic shackle imposed on him as a coercive measure is seriously deteriorating his health, alleging that he suffers from severe heart problems, including two pacemakers and two stents.

“This is an outrage by the Dominican justice system. How is it possible that a man with two pacemakers is fitted with an ankle monitor?” questioned Martínez Jiménez in statements given to the media. According to his explanation, every time an electronic inspection of the device is carried out, he experiences severe chest pains, which he considers a lethal risk.

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The communicator was accused of defamation and slander by Arnulfo de Jesús Gutiérrez Almonte, in a case that has been described by the authorities as a violation of Law 53-07 on High Technology Crimes and Offenses, in addition to articles 307 and 400 of the Penal Code, related to threats and blackmail. Martínez warned that, if he dies due to the effects of the device, he directly holds the Public Ministry and the judges who ordered the measure responsible. “If I die, you are going to have consequences with this shackle,” he expressed. He also criticized the high economic cost of wearing the electronic shackle in the country. According to him, he must make monthly payments of “500 dollars”, in addition to prior deposits. “Having a shackle in the Dominican Republic is like buying a Mercedes Benz on installments,” he quipped. Judge Yiberty Polanco Herrand, from the Judicial Office of Permanent Attention Services of Santiago, also imposed against the accused periodic presentation and impediment to leave the country, as part of the ongoing judicial process.