The president of Constitutional Court (T.C.), Judge Napoleón Estévez Lavandier, yesterday called attention to the persistence in identifying criminal files with nicknames or nicknames, a practice that, he recalled, is expressly prohibited by that body through the ruling T.C./0225/25.
In this decision, considered one of the most relevant in terms of fundamental rights, the T.C. established that outside of the internal management of the investigative bodies, it is not permitted to identify criminal processes with nicknames, understanding that this violates rights such as human dignity, honor, good name, self-image, personal integrity and the presumption of innocence of the people prosecuted.
Estévez Lavandier warned that there is resistance to compliance with this provision and reiterated that the use of nicknames is not necessary for criminal litigation, since in the Dominican judicial system the files are objectively identified by numbers, without discrimination.
He also reminded the actors in the criminal process and the media that this practice is contrary to constitutional values and the principles of due process.
These statements were offered during the accountability speech corresponding to the year 2025, delivered at the solemn audience for the fourteenth anniversary of the Constitutional Court.
Changes
Among the innovations implemented last year, he mentioned the interoperability system with the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) to digitally process appeals for constitutional review of jurisdictional decisions.
In addition, the digital signature of sentences by judges, the Mi TCRD platform to speed up the electronic response to citizens’ requests for certifications and the implementation of mandatory teaching of the Constitution in 10 additional universities (there are already 30).
Without arrears
The main achievement highlighted by the president of the T.C. in his speech was the speed with which the cases are being resolved.
Of the 1,820 background files that reached the T.C. In 2025, 1,809 failed, for an effectiveness of 99.3%.
The magistrate assured that in the last two years they issued 3,023 sentences, a number that exceeds the 2,982 sentences produced in the first six years of the T.C. (2012-2017).
The president of the TC was accountable for the performance of that court during 2025, with dozens of rulings that agitated public opinion and urged Congress to approve laws. The magistrate said he was aware of the impact of his decisions on national life and the rejection that rulings such as the one that declared unconstitutional the criminal punishment for sodomy in the Police and the Armed Forces can provoke. “We are aware that some of these rulings aroused controversies. However, far from worry, we accept this situation as a sign of democratic strength. Therefore, in times where decisions can become trenches and differences cause polarization, the TC will continue to exercise its function with independence and firmness,” he said. The magistrate did not mention a dozen laws that the TC has ordered to be created, whose terms of one and two years have already expired.
