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Three suspects held in killing of journalist in Dominican Republic

A judge in the Dominican Republic sentenced three suspects in the killing of journalist José Silvestre to be held in preventative detention for three months, reported the Dominican newspaper Listín Diario.

Elvin Canario de Óleo, Dennis Junior Serrano and Franklin Lugo Mejía, three of the five implicated in the killing, received the preventative detention. Ramón Alberto Barri, a judge in San Pedro de Macorís, decided there was enough evidence to suggest the three were involved in the killing of the journalist. Junior Elvin Canario de Óleo and Franklin Lugo Mejía were accused of the the killing, and Dennis Junior Serrano, a friend of the journalist's, was accused of revealing the journalist's routines to help with execution of the plan, according to a report by Diario Libre de Nicaragua.

Authorities also tracked the bank accounts of businessman Joaquín Espinal Almeyda (Daniel) and the fugitive Matías Avelino Castro, who authorities suggest was the mastermind behind Silvestre's Aug. 2, 2011, killing. The National Drug Control (DNCD in Spanish) says Avelino is connected to drug traffickers.