The judge grants a request for freedom for the last person seen with the US student. Sudiksha Konanki in the Dominican Republic – WSVN 7News

Higüey, Dominican Republic (CNN) – A judge of the Dominican Republic on Tuesday awarded a request for freedom for Joshua Steven Riibe, who the researchers believe that he was the last person to see the US university student. Uu. Sudiksha Konanki Long almost two weeks ago.

Riibe argued that the Dominican authorities arrested him inappropriate without charges and challenged his treatment towards him from the disappearance of the 20 -year -old on March 6.

The Judicial Hearing for Riibe arrived a day after Konanki’s parents asked the authorities of the Dominican Republic who officially declared it dead after disappearing during the spring holidays in Punta Cana, arguing that the investigators believe that he drowned and that evidence of dirty game has not been found.

Riibe’s hearing in the city of Higüey of the Dominican Republic was related to his request for habeas corpus last week, in which he asked the court to grant freedom and said that prosecutors, police and the hotel where he stayed violated his rights, partly by restricting his movements without charges filed against him, according to documents of the Court.

After the judge’s ruling, Riibe’s lawyers, while standing at his side, expressed “deep gratitude to the Dominican Judicial Power and all the institutions involved in the case of Joshua Steven Riibe for recognizing and defending the rule of law and showing respect for their fundamental rights as a foreign citizen in the Dominican Republic.”

During Tuesday’s hearing, Riibe, with a black shirt with blue buttons and jeans, urged a judge to let him return to the United States.

“I really want to go home and see my family,” Riibe testified. “I understand that I am here to help, but it has been 10 days.” Riibe said he was “detained for the first time on Saturday” and believed that “he was going home that day.”

Riibe, a 22 -year -old Iowa resident and a student at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, has not been considered suspicious in Konanki’s disappearance and has not been accused of irregularities. However, he was being kept in a hotel room under police surveillance, although he was not officially detained, during an investigation, he said a source familiar with CNN investigation last week. The authorities of the Dominican Republic confiscated Riibe’s passport last week, a different source close to the investigation told CNN.

Dominican authorities still have Riibe’s passport, and it is not clear when he will recover it, according to an official close to the prosecutor.

Riibe’s lawyer, Beatriz Santana, told CNN that they are requesting a new passport with the United States embassy because the authorities have not returned their own.

Riibe still does not know when he can leave the country, Santana said.

CNN has communicated with the United States Department of State to obtain details about Riibe’s new passport.

Riibe has another judicial hearing scheduled on March 28, but it is believed that he is not obliged to appear in person.

The Attorney General of the Dominican Republic, Yeni Berenice Reynoso, interviewed Riibe during the weekend for more than six hours, according to the source. A previous statement from Riibe’s parents said his son was taken to a police station to interrogate several times.

Riibe’s parents also affirmed that he was arrested “in irregular conditions” and questioned without official translators or legal advisor until March 12. Prosecutors refused to comment when CNN asked about those accusations.

Michael Chapman, the Sheriff of Loudoun County, Virginia, where Konanki’s family lives, told CNN on Sunday that Riibe had been “very direct with our detectives.” The Sheriff said he saw “no inconsistency” with what Riibe said.

At the judicial hearing, lawyers who represent the government argued that Riibe is not detained, but said he was interviewed as a “witness” and that “he has never been accused.” Riibe’s lawyer, however, said Riibe “has been restricted in his movement and his freedom” since last week.

Meanwhile, Konanki’s parents have asked the Dominican authorities to declare her dead. The researchers believe that Konanki, a student from the University of Pittsburgh, drowned “and no evidence of dirty game has been found,” said Subbarayudu and Sreedevi Konanki in a letter obtained by CNN.

“Starting this process will allow our family to start the grieving process and address issues related to their absence,” Konanki’s parents wrote. “While no statement can really relieve our pain, we trust that this step will bring a closure and will allow us to honor your memory.” CNN looked for comments from Subbarayudu Konanki about Tuesday’s letter.

“Given these circumstances, and after a lot of deliberation, we request that the Police Department continue with the legal statement of his death,” says the letter of his parents, dated Monday.

“Sudiksha’s family has expressed its belief that she was drowning,” said the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia in a statement on Tuesday. “While a final decision to make said statement from the authorities of the Dominican Republic, we will support the Konanki family in every possible way as we continue to review the evidence and information that make us available to us in the course of this investigation.”

Riibe’s lawyers referred to the Sheriff’s statement on Tuesday as evidence in their case. His father, Albert Riibe, also testified in court, saying that his son does not have his passport or cell phone: “They will not let him out of the hotel.”

“The main thing is that we cannot leave our room because in the morning they will come and look for us for interviews and we have no communication form,” Joshua Riibe testified.

Riibe’s lawyer said he is a “victim” and argued that prosecutors asked him the same question several times with the hope that he triumphs in his answer.

During his testimony, Riibe told his exchange with Konanki’s mother, who hugged and thanked him for saving his daughter the first time. “I have done what I can, but at this time there is not much I can do,” Riibe said, adding: “I am waiting to go home and return to my life.”

Konanki’s last known moments
Konanki, described by his father as an “ambitious” student who planned to study medicine, arrived at Punta Cana on March 3. He traveled with five other students from the University of Pittsburgh, according to the Sheriff’s Office of the Loudoun County.

Riibe said he met Konanki at the hotel when he and his friend appeared to his group. The two groups of friends went to a bar together, where they drank until “someone suggested that we were going to the beach,” Riibe said in an interview with Dominican prosecutors last week, according to the Dominican news program, news SIN, citing a transcription of the interview.

In the early hours of March 6, he was seen in surveillance images drinking with five women and two men in a Hotel Riu Republic bar. In the video, Konanki is seen wearing a white cover -up while hugging and talks to his friends. Riibe is seen several meters away, folded and stumbling with the grass outside the bar.

Then, at 4:15 am, a surveillance chamber captured the group, including Konanki, entering the beach, police said.

Just before 5 in the morning, surveillance images show five women and a man who leaves the beach, said two sources close to the investigation to CNN. Konanki was not among them.

Riibe told prosecutors that he and Konanki were run over by an intense wave and were dragged into the sea when the water returned, according to news without.

During an interview with the prosecutors on March 12, Riibe described a heartbreaking attempt to save Konanki after the wave pushed them and tired of swimming, according to news SIN, citing the transcription of the interview.

“It took me for a long time. He said he was trained as lifeguard but worked in the pools, not on the beach.

“I was trying to breathe all the time.

He said he saw Konanki for the last time when she walked in water to her knees.

“The last time I saw her, I asked him if he was fine.

“After vomiting, I looked around and I didn’t see anyone. I thought I had grabbed their things and left,” Riibe told prosecutors last week, according to news Sin.

“I felt very sick and tired.

The Sun and the bitten mosquitoes woke Riibe, he said, and went to his friend’s room to get his phone and then went to his room to sleep.

“I was sleeping in the room and my friend asked me if I had seen her; her friend told her that Konanki never returned to her room, what Riibe said she” surprised him. “

When Konanki did not return to her room, her friends looked for her before notifying the authorities, according to the Police source. Then, the group reported that its disappearance from the hotel staff around 4 pm on Thursday, according to the Riu hotel chain.

Konanki’s Padel -style cover -up was found in an armchair on the beach, but there were no signs of violence, said a source familiar with CNN investigation last week.

Konanki’s disappearance occurs almost two months after four tourists drowned in Punta Cana, according to the Civil Defense Agency of the Dominican Republic, on the same beach where he was last seen. Strong currents swept the tourists of Arena Gorda beach, where the Riu Republic Hotel is located, the Civil Defense Agency said on January 18 in a Facebook publication.

“After seeing her get away as she walked in the water, I never saw her again,” Riibe told prosecutors last week, according to news Sin.