Santo Domingo. The Constitutional Court (TC) rejected the constitutional review appeal of the jurisdictional decision filed by Ernesto Bienvenido Guevara Díaz, known as “Maconi,” with which he sought to overturn the 20-year prison sentence he is serving for drug trafficking and money laundering.
The decision is contained in judgment TC/0496/26, through which the high court declared the appeal admissible for consideration as to form, but dismissed all the arguments raised by the defense, concluding that no violation of the convicted person’s fundamental rights occurred during the judicial process.
Guevara Díaz alleged that during the process his rights to effective judicial protection, due process, the right to a defense, and legal certainty were violated. However, the Constitutional Court determined that the Second Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice acted in accordance with the Constitution, the laws, and the evidence legally incorporated into the case file.
In its decision, the Constitutional Court reiterated that the assessment of evidence and the determination of facts correspond exclusively to the judges of the ordinary jurisdiction, and therefore cannot be reviewed in constitutional proceedings, unless there is a direct and manifest violation of fundamental rights, a situation that was not verified in this case.
Likewise, he maintained that the accused had sufficient opportunities to exercise his right to a defense and to present the evidence he considered relevant during all stages of the process.
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Vessel inspection validated
One of the aspects analyzed by the Constitutional Court was the inspection carried out on the cargo vessel Kaluba, where the narcotics were seized.
The high court upheld the criterion that a ship’s engine room constitutes a common crew area and not a private space like the cabins, so the search conducted by the authorities did not require a judicial search warrant.
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Furthermore, it considered that the actions of the Dominican authorities were supported by articles 27 and 108 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which authorize intervention in cases of suspected illicit drug trafficking in the maritime domain.
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The Constitutional Court also concluded that the ruling issued by the Supreme Court of Justice was duly motivated and responded in a logical and coherent manner to each of the arguments put forward by the defense, further ruling out that there was an arbitrary change in the applicable jurisprudence.
Background
The conviction against Ernesto Bienvenido Guevara Díaz was imposed on August 27, 2020, by the Second Collegiate Court of the National District, which declared him guilty of violating Law 50-88 on Drugs and Controlled Substances and Law 155-17 on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.
Subsequently, the First Chamber of the Criminal Court of the Court of Appeal of the National District fully confirmed the sentence in July 2021, while in October 2022 the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice rejected the appeal for annulment filed by the defense.
With the Constitutional Court’s decision, the sentence of 20 years in prison, the payment of a RD$1 million fine, and the forfeiture of assets in favor of the State are now definitively final.
The case originated following the seizure of 1,502 packages of cocaine hydrochloride found in December 2017 in the engine room of the vessel Kaluba, flying the Tanzanian flag, for which shipment Guevara Díaz was convicted of international drug trafficking and money laundering.
