The Court of Instruction of Montecristi imposed two months of preventive detention, as a coercive measure, on a man accused of destroying a dry forest on the coast of Buen Hombre, in Villa Vásquez.
The coercive measure was dictated against Bartolo Castro Rodríguez, who was Specialized Attorney’s Office for the Defense of the Environment and Natural Resources (Proemaren) He is accused of cutting and removing vegetation from the dry forest on the coast of Buen Hombre, in the municipality of Villa Vásquez.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office, represented by the court attorney and coordinator of Proedemaren in the judicial department of Montecristi, Martha Bretón, demonstrated in a hearing the risks that constitute for the process, if preventive detention is not applied as a coercive measure against Castro Rodríguez.
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The defendant removed and destroyed a dry forest on a mountainside in Las Canas, where he cut down and burned trees, in addition to carrying out land leveling activities, whose area has a surface area of fifty-four thousand square meters, which is exposed to high fragility due to climate change, also causing soil erosion and desertification.
These actions also increase the risk of landslides, which could impact the road structure of the Dominicanos Residentes en el Exterior highway, which is located in that area.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has granted provisional legal qualification to these facts for violation of articles 66 and 67 of the Dominican Constitution 2, 8, 41.9, 164, 129, 174, 175 1.2, sanctioned by article 183 and 186 of Law 64-00 on the Environment and Natural Resources and articles 61, 62, sanctioned by articles 63, 64 and 68 of the Forestry Sector Law of the Dominican Republic, 57-18.
