(IPI/IFEX) – In a 5 November 2001 letter to Panamanian President Mireya Elisa Moscoso de Gruber, IPI expressed deep concern about the criminal defamation charges pending against Julio Briceño, an editorial cartoonist, and his newspaper, “La Prensa”. According to the information before IPI, Briceño, whose pen name is “Rac”, faces up to two years in […]
(IPI/IFEX) – In a 5 November 2001 letter to Panamanian President Mireya Elisa Moscoso de Gruber, IPI expressed deep concern about the criminal defamation charges pending against Julio Briceño, an editorial cartoonist, and his newspaper, “La Prensa”.
According to the information before IPI, Briceño, whose pen name is “Rac”, faces up to two years in jail if found guilty of defaming a former vice-president. In addition, Briceño’s newspaper, “La Prensa”, may have to pay US$ 1 million in damages, a sum that could force the daily into insolvency.
The charges were filed on 3 January by former vice-president Ricardo Arias Calderon under Article 175 of Panama’s Penal Code and founded on a cartoon drawn by Briceño and published in “La Prensa” in December 2000, which criticised the apparent political volte-face of Arias Calderon, a former opponent of General Manuel Antonio Noriega. The cartoon showed the former vice president standing next to the Grim Reaper, representing the Democratic National Party (PRD), the party which had once supported General Noriega and with which Arias Calderon has entered into a political accord. Article 175 provides for prison sentences of 18 to 24 months for those found guilty of offending, through any media, “an individual’s good reputation”.
According to IPI, in Panama, “insult” (desacato) and defamation laws are the favoured methods of public officials to silence journalists. The country still maintains these restrictive laws, which were enacted in the 1980s under the dictatorship of General Noriega, despite President Moscoso de Gruber’s initial promises to bring Panama’s press laws in line with international standards. As a consequence, journalists in Panama face long-term imprisonment for exposing official misconduct. According to IPI’s sources, at least seventy criminal cases against journalists are currently pending, the greatest number of such cases in any country in the Western hemisphere.
In IPI’s opinion, although prison sentences are almost always commuted into fines, the fact that insult and criminal defamation laws remain in effect and are used by public officials, who should be open to more – not less – scrutiny than ordinary citizens, has led to a climate of intimidation in which self-censorship among journalists is increasing.
IPI believes that desacato and criminal defamation laws are restrictions on freedom of expression that have no place in a democracy. Their existence prevents the media from criticising government action and contradicts internationally accepted standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– urging her to take the necessary steps to ensure the repeal of these remnants of a past dictatorship, thereby reaffirming her country’s commitment to uphold and protect fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression and press freedom
Appeals To
H.E. Mireya Elisa Moscoso de Gruber
President
Office of the President
Palacio Presidencial
Panama City, Republic of Panama
Fax: +507 227 0076
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
