Centro Bonò rejects the abhorrent sentencing of the Constitutional Tribunal

The organization denounces that the CT leaves 4 generations of Dominicans without nationality

Santo Domingo, September 26, 2013. Centro Bonó expressed the most profound indignation after the absurd, insensitive and unjust sentencing in which the Constitutional Tribunal (CT) creates the term “foreigners in transit” within a period covering 85 years, to justify the denationalization of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent. 

The abhorrent sentencing 168-13 of the CT legitimizes illegal administrative acts, according to the Central Electoral Board, affecting the fundamental rights of more than four generations of men and women who have formed part of the Dominican community; Men and women who have contributed to the material, cultural and spiritual development of this republic. According to this entity, it’s a judicial practice that overtly violates the principle of non-reactivity of the laws.

The Centro Bonó expresses publically its indignation as it saw the CT overextend itself in the case of Juliana Deguis Piere, who went to the tribunal with her nationality intact. Rather than receiving their support and the protection of her fundamental rights, she was denationalized by the judges who approved the sentencing. 

In this case, the Constitutional Tribunal is detaching itself from its origin, since the Magna Carta in its article 74 states that the highest court has the obligation to interpret the rights “of the persons entitled to them, in the most favorable sense.”  Centro Bonó said, “the CT ignores the principles of sentences drafted by the Interamerican Court of Human Rights, as well as the international agreements of the constitutional hierarchies.” 

In this context, Centro Bonó calls on all the citizens to denounce the sentencing made by the highest tribunal, and expresses its profound concern as the State of Rights, the judicial security and the institutional democracy in the Dominican Republic has been made vulnerable.

The Bonó announces that it will accompany all those affected by this sentencing, until the rights that have been violated are reinstated.

The Tribunal has appropriated hundreds of cases in similar situations, for which we hope that in the future and in honor of Rights, they revise and change their own jurisprudence according to the Constitution, the laws and the international agreements. 

“We call on the Powers of the State to assume their responsibility in balanced exercising of power, and to harmonize their views to seek a just and dignified solution to this problem.” 

The Centro Bonó greets and recognizes the dignity of the magistrate that opposed to this sad ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal.