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imprisonment, which should have expired by now.
Dominica (West Indies)
In December 1974, Amnesty International Secretary General Martin Ennals wrote to Prime Minister Patrick John of Dominica, appealing for the commutation of a death sentence which had been passed on Desmond Trotter, a member of the Movement for a New Dominica (MND), who was accused of shooting an American tourist. Although, as Mr Ennals pointed out in his letter, Al works for the abolition of capital punishment in all cases, he particularly urged that it should not be used in this instance because of doubts which existed regarding the guilt of the condemned man and the quality of the evidence against him.
Following information received in April 1975, the Secretary General wrote to the superintendent of the prison in which Desmond Trotter was held, asking to receive his assurance that the prisoner was not being subjected to ill-treatment.
AI has no adopted prisoners in Dominica.
Dominican Republic
In November 1974, Amnesty International Secretary General Martin Ennals addressed an appeal to President Joaquin Balaguer of the Dominican Republic which, while congratulating him on the release of five adopted prisoners, also drew his attention to the deteriorating conditions in certain rural areas, especially in the vicinity of San Francisco de Macoris, the Dominican Republic's third largest city.
Major problems relating to violations of human rights at present exist inter alia in the functioning of the judicial system, the conditions within prisons and the treatment of arrested or suspected people, especially in rural areas. Research is now in progress to establish a legal framework in which to examine these violations.
President Balaguer's government, in power since 1966, was re-elected in May 1974, amid widespread allegations of irregularities in voting procedures. The opposition parties, as a consequence, refused to recognize the validity of this result. In the violent political climate which prevailed after the election hundreds of arrests were made. Some of those detained were only peripherally connected with political parties. These arrests appear to have been carried out in a brutal and illegal manner with the detainees frequently being denied the most elementary safeguards.
During the year Amnesty International took up the cases of six people, a number which in no way reflects the true extent of the problem in the Dominican Republic.
Ecuador
A case before the Special Military Tribunals (Tribunales Especiales de Justicia), established by decree in July 1972, has been Amnesty International's main concern in Ecuador. The first and most prominent trial before a special tribunal involved a number of leftwing personalities and activists charged with eight armed robberies carried out over a period of more than two years.
Co-defendants in the case included an ex-member of Congress and provincial