Dominican activists decry extrajudicial killings after police fatally shoot 5 suspects
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SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Activists in the Dominican Republic are denouncing a surge in extrajudicial killings after police said they fatally shot five suspected criminals in one of the country’s biggest cities.
The killings occurred Wednesday in Santiago de los Caballeros, with police accusing the suspects of opening fire on officers first.
Authorities said those killed were members of a gang suspected of kidnappings, drug trafficking and contract killings.
But activists are questioning Wednesday’s shootout as they noted that such killings have nearly doubled from last year.
“We consider what happened yesterday to be an abusive use of force by the National Police,” Manuel María Mercedes, president of the National Human Rights Commission, told The Associated Press.
He said that investigations must be transparent and within the framework of due process as established by law.
“We are speaking out and denouncing the fact that we are witnessing the establishment of the death penalty in the Dominican Republic through extrajudicial executions, even though the Constitution and international pacts and conventions prohibit it,” Mercedes said.
Meanwhile, relatives of one of the victims told local media that he was innocent and was killed as he was opening his barbershop.
According to records from the National Human Rights Commission, more than 150 extrajudicial executions have occurred so far in 2025, surpassing the 80 recorded in 2024 in the country of nearly 11 million people.
Two days before the killings, the opposition Dominican Liberation Party called for an international body to carry out independent criminal investigations into every death resulting from police intervention.
Currently, the Office of the Attorney General is charged with investigating police shootings, but activists note that doesn’t always happen, and reports of their findings aren’t always made public.