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Legal Action
June 19
Juan Bolivar, Teleantillas, LEGAL ACTION
Bolivar, news director of the private television station Teleantillas and one of the most respected journalists in the Dominican Republic, was convicted of defaming Generoso Ledesma, the head of Comunicaciones Ltd., a telecommunications company. The charges stemmed from a paragraph in Bolivar's book Electoral Trauma, in which Bolivar claimed that Ledesma had diverted funds from Comunicaciones Ltd. to the 1994 electoral campaign of President Joaquín Balaguer. Bolivar was sentenced to six months in prison and fined US$233,000. The sentence specifically stated that he would have to go to prison even if he planned to file an appeal. But the Santo Domingo prosecutor general suspended the sentence, calling it “excessive and hasty.” While most trials in the Dominican Republic run for several years, Bolivar's trial was completed in one day. Bolivar has appealed and is awaiting a new trial.
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