Sinaí: Eight Years Jail for
Pimping
Following two weeks
of trial, Tribunal Penal judges
Johnny Mejía Ávila, Ana Mary
Hall Cubero and Noldán Carrillo,
ordered Sinaí Monge Muños to
eight years of jail and to repay
one for the victims ¢5 million
colones (us$11.000 dollars), for
"proxenetismo agravado" - for
arranging underage girls to meet
clients and exchange sex for
money.
Sinaí's lawyers sees the verdict
as a victory since the
prosecution had asked the court
for sixteen years and to repay
¢15 million colones to three of
the young girls.
During the two weeks, the court
heard testimony from young girls
who related their stories of how
they would be sent by Sinaí to
meet with customers, some of who
were "big wigs" in Costa Rica -
politicians, Judicial employees,
sports stars, etc. - who would
pay them for sex and then give
the Madam a cut.
Of the 6.000 hours of taped
conversations that investigators
made, the court only listened to
40. The conversations were of
Sinaí talking to customers who
asked for young girls and where
the Madam was more than eager to
please. Some of the girls being
offered were as young a 15.
The Organismo de Investigacion
Judicial (OIJ) was able to break
the case when one of their
agents was successful in placing
an order with Sinaí for a young
girl. A 15 year old girl came to
meet the undercover agent who
took her to a motel where,
according to police records, the
girl was ready, willing and able
to provide sexual favours in
return for payment.
Once in the motel, the
undercover agent excused himself
to make sure the door was locked
when in reality he opened it to
allow is companions to enter and
complete the investigation. The
police action was well
documented and filmed on video
tape, with marked money in the
young girl's hands.
Sinaí was promptly arrested,
along with three others who were
part of her network. That was in
October 2003. Two of her cohorts
pleaded guilty last fall and
made a deal for fours years jail
time each. The third was on
trial with Sinaí when it was
discovered that his lawyer had
been suspended from practicing
law and will be tried separately
in the near future.
The trial ended on Friday with
Sinaí making her statement. The
Madam asked for forgiveness, is
repentful of all that is
happened and said that she did
not know that the girls were
minors, referring also to the
three girls who testified
against her.
The court promised a swift
decision and Monday morning at
exactly 8am, the court president
read the judgement.
Judge Johnny Mejía, president of
the Tribunal, explained that
sufficient evidence was
presented during the trial that
supported the prosecution's
case, confirmed by the taped
conversations, that Sinaí did in
fact prostitute the girls,
minors and adults alike.
The judge said that there was no
doubt that the Madam set the
price for the girls to charge
and that she gave instructions
to the minors on how to please
the sexual exploiters of minors,
referring to the clients.
Mejía said that Sinaí was well
aware that the girls were
minors. The taped conversations
proved it beyond a doubt as the
Madam made reference to girls
aged 15 who would completely
satisfy the client.
Legislative Deputy, Carlos
Avendaño, who is president of
the Comisión de Juventud, Niñez
y Adolescencia, made a request
to the Ministerio Público for
the list of clients that Sinaí.
The list has been kept private
and was never entered in court
and is to supposedly contain the
names of politicians, court
officials, important businessmen
and sports figures who
frequented the Madam's services
and the young girls.
The Fiscalía (Prosecutor's
office) has been reluctant to
make the list public.
Prosecuting the clients on the
list is the possible reason the
Fiscalía wants to keep it
secret.
Court Rejects Rodríguez Bid for
Early Release
The Juzgado Penal del Segundo
Circuito Judicial de San José
rejected a request by former
president Miguel Angel Rodríguez
(1998-2002)from an early release
from preventive detention for
house arrest.
Rodríguez is being investigated
for corruption related to the
ICE-Alcatel scandal and
receiving money from the
Taiwanese government. Rodríguez
is currently is La Reforma
prison and his preventive
detention order expires in
April.
Rodríguez who stepped down as
Secretary General of the
Organization of American States
(OAS) joins former president
Rafael Angel Calderón, who bid
for an early release from
preventive detention was also
rejected by another court.
Rodríguez's lawyer argued that
there are changes in
circumstances, that there no
longer exists any possibility
that the former president would
flee the country as his wife is
now in Costa Rica.
In Calderón's case, his lawyer
argued that his client can no
longer impede the investigation
as all the evidence has been
presented. The judges who
ordered Calderón to preventive
detention had said that the
former president's tampering
with witnesses and evidence was
the primary reason for his
jailing.
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FM Shalom Meets with Costa
Rica FM Tovar
Israel's Deputy Prime
Minister and Foreign
Minister Silvan Shalom
hosted his colleague, the
Foreign Minister of Costa
Rica, Roberto Tovar Faja,
for a working meeting
followed by a luncheon.
Shalom noted the special
ties of friendship between
Israel and Costa Rica and
stressed the fact that Costa
Rica maintains its embassy
in Jerusalem. He expressed
the hope that many other
countries will follow the
example of Costa Rica and
open embassies in Jerusalem
as well.
In the course of the
meeting, in additional to
political issues, the two
foreign ministers discussed
economic and agricultural
cooperation between the two
countries. They also signed
a consultation agreement
between the two foreign
ministries and an
International Cooperation
Agreement.
On February 23, Tovar will
sign a declaration on
cooperation in small and
medium businesses with Vice
Prime Minster and Minister
of Industry, Trade and Labor
Ehud Omert. He will also
visit the Kiryat Yovel
neighborhood in Jerusalem
and will lay a wreath on the
memorial to the victims of
the terror attack on Mexico
Street in November 2002.
Computer Problems Shut Down
Registro
A problem
with the power source at the
Registro Nacional (National
Register) on Thursday caused
a complete system shutdown.
The problem was located and
repaired by the end of
Thursday, but the officials
felt they needed the extra
days of Friday and the
weekend to back up the data
and do a system wide check.
The situation left thousands
stranded with no access to
the Registry's data and no
way to complete the
thousands of daily
transactions. The situation
was back to normal on
Monday, but the backlog
meant long lines.
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