The Third Collegiate Court of the National District postponed the continuation of the substantive trial against those accused of belonging to a human trafficking network for sexual exploitation, dismantled in August 2022 through the Operation Cattleya.
The court adopted the decision due to the co-defendant’s failure to appear Melvin Valentín Peguero, who presented a medical license through his lawyer, which ends on November 25.
The hearing was scheduled for Next Wednesday, November 20in order not to break with the immediacy of the process, as established by the norm and will be rescheduled for Wednesday, November 27 at 9:00 in the morning. Date on which the Public Ministry will continue with the reproduction of witnesses and incorporation of evidence.
Other defendants
The Cattleya case is also being pursued against José Miguel Michel Gurdis (Michel), Daniel Enrique Inirio Abreu, Cristina Virginia González Hernández, Cristina María Castillo Vargas, Robert Lee Eleuterio Paniagua Díaz, José Alberto Soriano Rosario (Surgeon) and Dionicio Mieses de la Cruz ( Dionis).
Furthermore, against Louis Marie Nephtalie, Engel Nefthali Vargas Soto (Ángel), Oliver Arnaud Lewinski and/or Timothy William Case Renee, Braulio Manuel Lugo, Marie Fokina Achille (Fior, Flor or Flores), Carlos Jhonatan Walwyn Campusano Díaz (Carlos), Zafiro Nataly Sánchez González, Oscar Wicene and Alejandro Arturo Batista Bustamante (the Cat).
Likewise, it involves the Caribe and Oscar hotels, in the Gascue sector, in the National District, and Coco Real, in Bávaro, Punta Cana, La Altagracia province.
In the accusatory file, made up of 370 pages, the Public Ministry establishes that the network sexually exploited women from South America and that it had been operating in the country for around a year, when it was dismantled in August 2022.
That same month, after several days of the accused being detained, the PETT managed to get Judge Kenya Romero, of the Permanent Attention Court of the National District, to order 18 months of preventive detention against 11 accused of Operation Cattleya. Also, that the process was declared complex.
The defendants in this judicial process comply with coercive measures consisting of preventive detention, two have an electronic locator and financial guarantee, while others have periodic presentation and financial guarantee.
In the process, the accusing body has been represented by prosecutors Eduardo Velázquez and Miguel Crucey, from the General Directorate of Prosecution of the Public Ministry, as well as by Aleika Almonte, Ginna Matías, Carmen de León Hernández, Belkis Ulloa and Noelia Taveras, assigned to the PETT, and María Silvestre, from the District Attorney’s Office.
Also, by Ángela Díaz Vargas, PETT lawyer; Junior Alcántara and Soraida Batista, from the National Service for Legal Representation of Victim’s Rights (Relevic), who served as representatives of the victims.
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