La Romana’s deputy Pedro Botello vowed on Wednesday that he would resign if the National Congress’s disciplinary board verifies that he committed some aggression during the rally for the release of 30% of the pension funds last Thursday.
“When the chairman of the disciplinary committee, when the chairman of the Chamber of Deputies shows me that I threw a stone, that I attacked a police officer, that I attacked this building, I swear by the memory of my mother, who stepped down as a deputy in 24 hours ”, according to the legislator.
These statements by Botello, a member of the Christian Social Reform Party (PRSC), came about after a statement from the Senate was received in the Lower House stating that he the main responsible of the violent acts of the above protests.
In that document, he described that the group’s actions had been initiated by Botello, resulting in attacks on law and order agents and damage to Congress caused by stones thrown by the protesters.
Likewise, the senators have empowered the deputies to decide on the possible sanctions that apply. For this reason, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfredo Pacheco, confirmed that the information will be sent to the Disciplinary Board for this purpose.
Possible sanctions
According to Article 170 of the Rules of Deputies, the Board can present punishments in the form of private reprimand, public censorship, denial of representation of the Chamber at national and international events for the time determined by the Disciplinary Board, suspension of the working committees to which it belongs, and deprivation of travel expenses.
Likewise, through Article 83 of the Constitution before the Senate, delegates may accuse officials elected by popular vote of “serious misconduct” in the exercise of their functions.
The accusation can only be made with the positive vote of two thirds of the tender.