SANTO DOMINIGO, Dominican Republic (CMC) — The Dominican Republic has formally requested the extradition of two brothers who have been accused of murdering a farmer and his wife earlier this month.

The authorities said that the Haitians were workers of Julio Reyes Perez and Neida Féliz Urbaez, the owners of a ranch in Le Quemao, a rural community in Las Mercedes.

The Mayor of Pedernales, Luis Manuel Felix Matos, had on March 12 announced the closure of the border market after he said he wanted to avoid reprisals against Haitians who come to trade in the market.

The authorities said that a third man, believed to be a brother of the two accused, had been arrested in the community of Banana-Haiti while being in possession of a motorcycle belonging to the owner of the ranch.

Attorney General Jean Rodríguez, has formally asked the Haitian authorities to extradite the brothers, named as Luis Bom, who is reported to be in a prison in Haiti and Francisco Bom, who is on the run.

Rodrequez said that he has sent the request for extradition to the Ministry of Justice of Haiti through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MIREX).

“We have completed the legal process so that these Haitian citizens can be extradited from their nation to the Dominican Republic, so that they can respond to the country’s criminal justice system, for allegedly associating in the murder of Julio Reyes Pérez Matos and causing serious injuries that subsequently caused the death of Mrs. Neyda Miladis Urbáez Féliz,” Rodriquez said.

He said the brothers “have their right to a fair and regular trial.

He said “contrary to what has been said in the media and in various statements by Haitian officials who say that Haiti has never signed an extradition agreement with the Dominican Republic …this application is covered by the Convention of Extradition of Montevideo, signed in Uruguay on December 26, 1933 by both the Dominican Republic and Haiti among others”.

He said the convention adopted by the two countries in 1981 and noted that Article 1 stipulates “Each one of the signatory States in harmony with the stipulations of the present Convention assumes the obligation of surrendering to any one of the States which may make the requisition, the persons who may be in their territory and who are accused or under sentence.

“This right shall be claimed only under the following circumstances (A) That the demanding State have the jurisdiction to try and to punish the delinquency which is attributed to the individual whom it desires to extradite. And (b) That the act for which extradition is sought constitutes a crime and is punishable under the laws of the demanding and surrendering States with a minimum penalty of imprisonment for one year.”