"Journalistic guilds and institutions today accused Patricia Padilla—the presiding judge of the Second Investigating Court of the National District—of 'abuse of power,' alleging that she imposed precautionary measures against media professionals Nelson Gutiérrez and Joan René Santana (known as 'El Francotirador') in order to 'appease' Ramón Antonio Guzmán Peralta, the former director general of the National Police, who had accused them of defamation, insult and slander.
In a statement detailing a press conference held at the Dominican College of Journalists, the leaders asserted that the magistrate engaged in 'abuse of power and intolerance' with regard to the 'most elementary principles' of freedom of expression and the practice of journalism.
[...]
[The judge] imposed upon Gutiérrez, as a coercive measure, the payment of a financial guarantee of 500,000 pesos, the requirement to make periodic appearances before the court and a ban on leaving the country—whereas, against Joan René Santana, the judge ordered the measure of periodic appearances before the court."
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