Dominican court upholds drug sentence against French man

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – An appeals court in the Dominican Republic has upheld a 20-year sentence for a French man found guilty of trafficking 1,543 pounds (700 kilograms) of cocaine.

Thursday’s ruling against Alain Castany is the last one rejecting appeals filed by the four men convicted in the case. Two of them are pilots who fled to France in 2015 and remain fugitives.

Attorney Luz Diaz declined to comment on the ruling because she had not yet spoken to Castany. She previously argued that her 70-year-old client should serve his sentence in France.

Castany and the others were detained in March 2013 after authorities said they tried to fly from the Dominican Republic to St. Tropez with the drugs.

Four Dominican military officials also were found guilty in the case.

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