(SPP/IFEX) – The following is a 16 October 2001 SPP press release: JOURNALIST’S ASSASSIN SENTENCED TO TWENTY-FIVE YEARS IN PRISON IN PARAGUAY On 16 October 2001, Milcíades Mayling was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison, the maximum sentence under the local criminal code. Mayling is believed to have assassinated community journalist Salvador Medina on 5 […]
(SPP/IFEX) – The following is a 16 October 2001 SPP press release:
JOURNALIST’S ASSASSIN SENTENCED TO TWENTY-FIVE YEARS IN PRISON IN PARAGUAY
On 16 October 2001, Milcíades Mayling was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison, the maximum sentence under the local criminal code. Mayling is believed to have assassinated community journalist Salvador Medina on 5 January, on a road near Capiibary, in San Pedro department.
The arguments presented by Public Prosecutor Ramon Trinidad Zelaya and the lawyers for the prosecution, representing the journalists’ parents, could not be refuted during the oral trial that lasted more than twelve hours.
The prosecutor’s request that Mayling be imprisoned was accepted by the magistrate presiding over the Curuguaty region court, Judge Francisco Zacarías Cubilla. Medina’s family members announced that the case would continue as those behind the assassination are still at large.
Salvador Medina was assassinated on the afternoon of 5 January while he was returning home on a motorcycle, accompanied by his brother Gaspar. About one kilometre from his house, he was intercepted by a masked individual who shot him at point-blank range in the heart, killing him almost instantly. After the assassination, the journalists’ family was the target of systematic intimidation and death threats.
It is suspected that individuals trafficking lumber from the Capiibary zone, who also have links to drug trafficking, may have ordered the assassination. It is also possible that important political strategists of the governing Colorado Party, who are part of the president’s inner circle, may be connected with the crime.
Medina, a journalist with community radio station Ñemity FM, often condemned illegal activities in the San Pedro region. He carried out a number of important investigations on this topic with his brother Pablo Medina, a correspondent for the Asuncion newspaper ABC Color.
The Sindicato de Periodistas del Paraguay and the Community Radio Network supported the complaint lodged by the assassinated journalist’s parents.
The journalist’s murder sparked a reaction from international freedom of expression and human rights organisations.
Asuncion, 16 October 2001
Miguel H. Lopez
Human Rights and Labour Affairs Secretary
Sindicato de Periodistas del Paraguay
