Spanish
Santo Domingo.- Criminal lawyer Félix Portes filed an appeal this Wednesday before the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal of the National District, representing more than twenty families affected by the collapse of the roof of the Jet Set entertainment center, a tragedy that left 236 dead and more than 180 injured.
The legal action seeks to reverse the decision of the Tenth Instruction Court, which imposed non-custodial coercive measures against the defendants Antonio Espaillat López and Maribel Espaillat de Veras, including a financial guarantee of RD$50 million each, a ban on leaving the country, and periodic reporting.
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Portes maintains that the acting judge, Fátima Scarlette Veloz Suárez, should have recused herself from the process due to alleged conflicts of interest. He also questions that a partial assessment of the evidence was made, leaving out key statements that warned about the deterioration of the premises before the collapse. The court, declaring the case as complex, granted the defendants a period of seven days to pay the bail, warning that if they failed to comply, they would be sent to penitentiary centers. The Public Ministry has twelve months to present its concluding act, in a process that continues to be closely followed by the affected families and public opinion, awaiting justice for the magnitude of the tragedy.
