Santo Domingo.— The judges of the Second Collegiate Court of the National District rejected this Monday the request by the defense of the former Attorney General of the Republic, Jean Alain Rodríguez, to declare the criminal action against him in the Medusa case extinguished.
The court, presided over by Judge Claribel Nivar Arias and composed of magistrates Yissell Nivar and Clara Castillo, also ordered the Public Prosecutor’s Office to begin the reading of the indictment filed against Rodríguez and the other defendants in the process.
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The decision was adopted after the magistrates conducted a review of the different stages the judicial file has gone through.
The defense for the former attorney general, led by lawyer Carlos Balcácer, had requested the extinction of the criminal action on the grounds that the process has been in the courts for over five years, exceeding the maximum period of four years established by the Code of Criminal Procedure.
In opposition, representatives of the Public Prosecutor’s Office requested that the proposal be rejected, alleging that the delays recorded during the process have been caused, in part, by actions promoted by the defendants’ lawyers.
Last Wednesday, the court had postponed the decision on the motion for dismissal until this Monday.
The Medusa case
The judicial process dates back to 2021, when the Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated the investigations that gave rise to the file known as the Medusa case.
On July 13, 2021, a judge from the Permanent Attention Office of the National District imposed the first coercive measures against several of those involved.
The Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (PEPCA) accuses Jean Alain Rodríguez and other defendants of committing alleged acts of corruption during the period he was at the head of the Attorney General’s Office, between 2016 and 2020.
Among the accusations are alleged fraud related to the PGR’s Procurement and Contracting Committee, bribery, money laundering, and an alleged embezzlement of over RD$6 billion to the detriment of the Dominican State.
Since the beginning of the process, Rodriguez’s defense has presented various motions and appeals with which it has sought to question aspects of the case file and prevent the trial from moving forward.
With the rejection of the request for dismissal, the court allowed the proceedings to continue and ordered the start of the reading of the indictment, one of the stages prior to the development of the trial on the merits.
The decision allows the Medusa case to continue its course in the courts, while the parties present their respective arguments and the responsibility or lack thereof of the accused is determined.
