Montecristi. The lawyers for the defendants in Operation Border challenged the judge from the Office of Permanent Attention of the judicial district of montecristi, Javiera Antonia Gomez. They did so because of their previous participation in the investigation process and in the raids.
According to the defense lawyers, the magistrate was the one who issued the search warrants against 15 defendants. These allegedly belong to an organized criminal network that traffics Haitian immigrants, which Operation Border dismantled.
Lawyer Wendis Almonte indicated that the judge Javierca Antonia Gómez has a lot of knowledge of the investigation case. She refers that now the challenge will go to the Court of Appeal where it will be evaluated
After the challenge presented by the legal representatives of the defendants, the date of knowledge of the measure of coercion was not established. This is against the 15 accused of being part of the alleged illegal trafficking network.
While prosecutor Johanny Herrera described the challenge as a delaying measure, which seeks to prevent that judge from knowing the process.
The accusing body is requesting preventive detention for one year against the 15 defendants in this case. It would be a network organized and dismantled by the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office Against Illicit Traffic of migrants and Human Trafficking (PETT). This was in conjunction with the Prosecutor’s Office of this demarcation.
As explained by prosecutor Johanny Herrera, the 24 migrants found in the collection centers during the raids were repatriated to Haiti for being undocumented.
