As part of its campaign for the repeal of criminal-defamation laws in the region, the International Press Institute (IPI) will again conduct an official mission in the Caribbean, visiting six countries from 15 April to 6 May 2013. The IPI delegation will consist of: Alison Bethel McKenzie, IPI executive director; John Yearwood, The Miami Herald’s national […]

The International Press Institute (IPI) today warmly congratulated the Justice Committee of the Dominican Republic Chamber of Deputies for removing prison penalties for defamation and insult from the draft penal code under consideration. In a letter to the Committee’s president, Demóstenes Martínez Hernández, IPI Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie lauded the move “an important step […]

An appellate court in the Dominican Republic yesterday threw out the conviction of a journalist who had been sentenced to three months in prison for defamation last September. A three-judge panel of the Appeals Court for the National District (Santo Domingo) ordered a retrial in the case of Melton Pineda, who had been found guilty […]

A Canadian multinational clothing manufacturer has agreed to drop criminal defamation and insult charges against two Dominican Republic investigative journalists, the International Press Institute (IPI) has learned from local sources. After negotiations that lasted more than 12 hours, lawyers for Gildan Activewear promised to abandon the case in return for a public statement from the […]