Santo Domingo.- Dominican Government representatives on Wednesday asked the Inter-American Human Rights Court (CIDH) to dismiss the charges for its role in the disappearance of university professor and journalist Narciso Gonzalez (Narcisazo), claiming statute of limitations.

Government defender Jose Casado said the Court must recuse itself to analyze the case on the legal principle known as ratione temporis, since Gonzalez’s apparent disappearance occurred in 1994, while Dominican Republic acknowledged the regional court’s arbitrative competition in 1999.

He also affirmed that the internal resources haven’t been fulfilled. "Thirty-five days after Gonzalez’s disappearance, his relatives and their representatives (CIDH) went to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and the Commission violated its own regulations because it’s impossible for the internal resources to have run out in only 35 days."

"From all this the State reiterates its request to dismiss the lawsuit," Casado motioned during the second part of the public hearings which began Tuesday with testimonies from people close to Gonzalez, a Dominican judge who was in charge of the case and an expert witness.

Human Rights Comisión

In response to the Dominican Government’s allegations, Human Rights Commission representatives Elizabeth Abi-Mershed and Catalina Botero noted that the defense didn’t specify which of the internal resources weren’t fulfilled.

"From the onset the internal resources were fulfilled but in the admissibility phase (with the CIDH), the State did not indicate which were the resources...that haven’t been fulfilled in  the previous opportunities the asked  la Commission the State to widen specify and the State didn’t respond to those requirements."