Austrian killed in Playa Laguna

[Lambada]

This does not sound like a robbery to me, if you read the background police are unofficially linking it to the case of the Puerto Plata judge who was imprisoned for extortion & who was found guilty in litigation involving the wife of the slain man.
Puerto Plata Digital

I'm posting it because I'm sure the deceased is known to many in Sosua and Cabarete & to make sure people don't think crimes against foreigners are hushed up.

[Lambada]

Permit me to give some background to this, which I didn't have time to do earlier. I think there are lessons here for all of us expats in how far we go in fighting corruption, I'm sorry to say.

First off, one paper is saying it was an attempted kidnapping gone wrong. The Austrian & his Mexican wife, (both I understand have Dominican citizenship) resisted the attempted kidnapping which happened around 10.45am this morning. The husband is now dead & the wife had surgery this afternoon & is in a serious condition.
Apuñalan austrÃ*aco en Playa Laguna, Sosua

Now the history. Three years ago the Mexican lady was involved in a plaint at Puerto Plata Court. The judge let it be known that he would judge the case in her favour for US$2500. She told her lawyer & her lawyer reported it to the Fiscal. The Fiscal's office set up a sting operation which at the time was reported as taking place at Walter's Restaurant on Hermanas Mirabal but according to Court documents was at Barco's on the Malecon. Either way, the judge was caught red-handed: they had tapes of cellphone calls he exchanged with the Mexican lady, the marked US$2500 bills etc. He was fired from his job & prosecuted. The Court gave him a 6 month sentence of imprisonment. The Fiscal's office thought this was too lenient & appealed the case to the Supreme Court. Last September I believe it was, he was given 3 years imprisonment. He was released in Feb. 2008 i.e. last month when his lawyer, Angel Artiles Diaz, successfully produced a case for financial penalties complied with. The deceased Austrian is the husband of the Mexican lady who helped set up the sting on the corrupt judge.

Obviously the police do not think the ex-judge carried out the act of slaying (4 men & a woman are mentioned) but they seem to think he might be implicated as an 'intellectual author'.

Which brings me to the lessons for us all. The Mexican lady did the right thing in reporting extortion to her lawyer, her lawyer did the right thing in reporting to the Fiscal, the Fiscal did the right thing in prosecuting the ex-judge AND in appealing a lenient sentence & winning the case with the Supreme Court. But now the husband is dead & the lady herself in a serious condition. It goes against the grain for me to ask this but............would it have been better if she had never reported the extortion in the first place?

Given the same or similar circumstances, what would any of us do?

More info here:
El Nuevo Norte > Inicio

Supreme Court docs here - I could only open cached version so scroll down a bit
Dios, Patria y Libertad

[MommC]

would be more involved if not for the blatant corruption that is pervasive in the entire Dominican gov't and judiciary.

As I said before in a different thread(s) - when has a gun pointed at them and are told to mind their own business, one has a tendancy to do so.

[Conchman]

I have been preaching about the perversion of the legal system on the North Coast for quite a while. There is a mafia of judges and lawyers operating at will, fixing cases before they go to court. It is totally out of control. It goes all the way to appeals court to the top.

My favorite case is in labor court where a guy who never worked for us, sued us that we didn't pay him, and HE WON! He was operating a concession doing temporary tattoos, paying us a commission on the sales. He used the cafeteria card (never be nice!) we gave him for free food in our cafeteria as 'evidence' that he worked for us (it was blank without his name but the judge didnt care), also the polo shirt with our logo. We had tons of evidence that he never worked for us, but it didn't matter to the judge. He was awarded 600K pesos. Ridiculous.

[Hipocrito Mejia]

Originally Posted by Conchman

He was awarded 600K pesos.

Which included the judge's share.

I think that you forgot to add that sentence at the end, so I did it for you.

Such is life in DR. He who has better connections, gets away with more stuff.

[Lambada]

Originally Posted by Conchman

My favorite case is in labor court where a guy who never worked for us, sued us that we didn't pay him, and HE WON!

Going on the experience of the deceased, whose wife 'won' I guess you should be pleased you lost, Conchman............ At least you're alive. That is, of course, if the prior litigation had anything to do with this man's death.............

Originally Posted by Hipocrito Mejia

He who has better connections, gets away with more stuff.

Agreed but there's a difference between winning or losing a Court case and being slain. Most of the time I try hard not to upset powerful people. But where it's unavoidable & morally the right thing to do then I will still pursue but very much in the background trying to ensure that any 'digging' is done by others who are safe because they're outside of the country. Yes, of course I'll protect my own skin but that doesn't mean doing nothing. Doing 'nothing' just compounds the existing situation. I think we need to do 'something' but do it wisely.

[Lambada]

Given the different names reported in the papers perhaps a mod. would be kind enough to strike the name mentioned in my previous post in case it gets confused with anyone else. Thanks. One name is here for example
Lavanguardia.es

and El Caribe has a completely different name
http://www.elcaribecdn.com/articulo_...FA3&Seccion=64

Perhaps we should simply refer to him as the 'deceased'? El Caribe is saying it was an attempted robbery, NOT what was being said yesterday btw.

[Berzin]

I am wondering why anyone in their right mind would go to the DR with such a rigid sense of morality.

You have to realize where you are and behave accordingly, like it or not.

And sad to say, Conchman more than likely would of saved himself a lot of money and grief if he would of paid a couple of tigres to take care of the guy who was suing him and/or bribed the right officials.

[Lambada]

Originally Posted by Berzin

I am wondering why anyone in their right mind would go to the DR with such a rigid sense of morality.

You have to realize where you are and behave accordingly, like it or not.

And sad to say, Conchman more than likely would of saved himself a lot of money and grief if he would of paid a couple of tigres to take care of the guy who was suing him and/or bribed the right officials.

Of course you have to realise where you are but that doesn't mean abandoning your principles. What if Conchman doesn't believe in hiring heavies?

Thanks Chris for taking the name out. We'll get the correct spelling sooner or later, I'm sure.

[Patrik]

Gents, after reading your (important and well written) information, you can't get away from the feeling that "life" in DR is on the downslope. (rise in crime, widespread legal corruption, goverment corruption and so on)

If we leave the patriotic pro-DR feelings aside, and make a pure logical and rational calculation - What country in central america are the "most promising" to become a "first world country" regarding democracy, goverment efficency, Justice and economical development?

In your oppinion, what country are/soon to become the "classleader" in Central america for living/retirement?

It would be real interesting and good to have your input on the matter.

Best regards / Patrik