The defendants' legal team submitted new documents on Monday, prompting the court to postpone the proceedings for the third time
SANTO DOMINGO – From the start of the preliminary hearing in the case related to the Jet Set nightclub collapse, held this Monday, August 16, lawyers and legal analysts warned that there was a high possibility the proceedings would be postponed. Ultimately, that is what happened.
The hearing took place at the Palace of Justice in Ciudad Nueva and was presided over by Judge Raymond Mejía, who was handling the preliminary phase of the proceedings against siblings Maribel and Antonio Espaillat, owners of the establishment whose collapse left more than 200 people dead and more than 180 injured.
Upon their arrival at the courthouse, the defendants were greeted with shouts and expressions of outrage from people outside the Palace of Justice, who hurled insults such as "thieves" and "murderers" at them, amid the indignation generated by the tragedy that has plunged the entire Dominican society into mourning.
They claim a lack of documents
Legal experts explained that the possible postponement was linked to the late delivery of documents by the defendants' legal team.
According to attorney Jean Carlos Martínez, the defense filed briefs and other legal arguments practically at the deadline, which meant that these documents had to be presented at the very beginning of the hearing. This situation, according to representatives of the plaintiffs, prevented them from adequately reviewing the material before proceeding with the case.
In addition, the defense introduced a new 64GB digital file, which the victims' legal representatives were notified of at that time.
It was also reported that not all the plaintiffs have received the full indictment from the Public Prosecutor's Office, and that some of those who were notified claim not to have the entire file.
Different procedural strategies
For his part, lawyer Félix Portes pointed out that the handling of the case by the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) has included procedural strategies different from those applied in other high-profile cases, and noted that so far there has been no seizure of economic assets linked to the defendants.
After the postponement was announced, representatives of the victims' movement in the Jet Set case reiterated that they will continue to demand justice.
“We will remain firm until the end, until there is justice,” they expressed during a live broadcast by the digital account Somos Pueblo.
At the conclusion of the hearing, some relatives of the victims stated that they are not willing to negotiate any type of agreement in the legal proceedings. They indicated that their only demand is that justice be served for what happened, stating that, “the lives of our loved ones are priceless.”.
With the decision made this Monday, the preliminary hearing of the case is postponed for the third time, being scheduled for April 6.
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