SANTO DOMINGO.- Representatives of social and religious organizations and professional unions agree that the Dominican Republic has too many murder cases that have not been brought to justice and remain “in total impunity,” online newspaper El Nuevo Diario reported Sunday.

A group of relatives and close friends of people who have died in violence gathered for a vigil outside Acropolis Centre in the capital today to demand justice for Christopher Angel Martinez, a former employee of the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation who was gunned down on the streets of Alma Rosa on July 12, 2006.

The demonstration, organized by Martinez’s son Erick Christopher, was led by the president of the Dominican Law School, Jose Fernando Perez Volquez, who said Martinez’s death “is an example of how the justice system can be corrupted, and how the prosecution acts when and how it pleases them. It’s a shame.”

He said under the current system the wealthy and well-connected in society frequently go unpunished.

Domingo Rojas Porfirio Nina and Virgilio Almánzar, representatives of the National Commission on Human Rights, said that organized crime in particular must be met with a forceful response from the authorities.

Erick Christopher Martinez said he would like to see total transparency in the judiciary and government in the handling of cases like his father’s, and said the levels of impunity in the country should inspire “deep reflection on the values of Dominican society.”