The Attorney General’s Office appealed to the Constitutional Court (TLC) the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice that condemns the Dominican State to pay RD$10,912,792.00 in favor of the pilot Affe Gutiérrez Gil, husband of the television presenter Sahara Pepén.
The prosecuting body notified Gutiérrez Gil of the appeal at a time when he was preparing to hold a press conference to announce the sentence.
This is the highest compensation imposed against the Dominican State, for having been found guilty of imposing unjust preventive detention and serious violations of the human rights of a citizen.
The defense bar of Gutiérrez Gil, husband of television presenter Sarah Pepén, made up of Carlos Moreno, Manuela Ramírez and Zaida Carrasco, stressed that “The ruling constitutes the highest compensation known in the country for unjust preventive detention, marking a precedent in the history of Dominican Administrative Law and a milestone in the consolidation of the State’s patrimonial responsibility.”
While Affe Gutiérrez Gil stated that “this sentence is symbolic, since there is nothing material that will give us back the lost time, in addition, on the part of the prosecution body there has been no public excuse for the abuse committed and much less persecuted those who caused us this damage.”
The Attorney General’s Office appealed the ruling that provides record compensation to Sarah Pepén’s husband, after being a victim of preventive detention and human rights violations
He recalled that his judicial ordeal began in 2008, shortly after his marriage to journalist Sarah Pepén. According to the file, after that union, he was subject to unjustified institutional persecution that culminated in his expulsion from the Police and his subsequent submission to justice on charges of homicide.
In 2009 he was arrested preventively and, despite the lack of evidence, the Public Ministry maintained the accusation. A key witness later admitted having received money to falsely accuse him, revealing a network of procedural manipulation that kept him imprisoned for more than two and a half years.
In his judicial pilgrimage, Gutiérrez Gil was twice sentenced to 30 years in prison, both times by courts that were subsequently overruled and their decisions annulled by the Court of Appeal.
Finally, in May 2017, the Fourth Collegiate Court of the National District definitively cleared him of all accusations, putting an end to a judicial ordeal of almost a decade of trials, deprivations and suffering.
During his imprisonment, he went on a hunger strike, was the victim of two murder attempts inside the prison and saw his daughter born behind bars, without being able to hold her in his arms.
Despite having formally denounced the judges and prosecutors who participated in the process, the authorities ignored their complaints. Years later, some of those judges were expelled from the Judiciary for “selling sentences,” confirming the pattern of corruption that he had denounced from his cell.
In August 2020, Gutiérrez Gil filed a property liability lawsuit against the Attorney General’s Office, demanding compensation of RD$100 million for the physical, psychological and professional damages suffered.
The Fifth Chamber of the Superior Administrative Court (TSA) recognized his status as a victim of abuse of power, declaring that the State acted arbitrarily and in disregard of constitutional guarantees, and ordered the payment of RD$10,912,792.00 as moral, physical and professional reparation.
