(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – On the afternoon of Friday 22 June 2001, a federal police officer insulted and attacked journalist Fabián Rubino of Radio Mitre. The officer handcuffed him using force and tried to compel him to sign a document that he had made up, which charged Rubino with resisting authority. At approximately 7:30 p.m. (local time), […]
(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – On the afternoon of Friday 22 June 2001, a federal police officer insulted and attacked journalist Fabián Rubino of Radio Mitre. The officer handcuffed him using force and tried to compel him to sign a document that he had made up, which charged Rubino with resisting authority.
At approximately 7:30 p.m. (local time), the journalist tried to get onto Pueyrredon Bridge, which joins the city of Buenos Aires with the Avellaneda district. A group of protesters had blocked access to the road at that moment. An unidentified Federal Police sergeant refused to let Rubino pass and after a brief discussion the officer insulted him and spit on him. Before a bewildered Rubino, the sergeant faked being attacked and with another officer’s help placed the journalist face down and handcuffed him. The sergeant was in the process of charging him with alleged resistance to authority, but at that moment taxi driver José Omar Pérez, who witnessed the incident, rescued Rubino and contacted Radio Mitre. Upon realising that the incident was being broadcast live on the radio, the police officer ended the assault.
This is the fourth case this year of police violence against journalists, photographers and camerapersons. In January, journalist Héctor Actis, of the news station Cronica TV, was mistreated and detained by the Federal Police while reporting on the conditions firefighters endured while fighting a fire in Buenos Aires. In April, photographer Rolando Andrade, of the daily “La Nacion”, was attacked by a former Buenos Aires police officer while Federal Police officers watched on idly (see IFEX alert of 17 April 2001). Two weeks ago, national police officers brutally assaulted local journalists, who were covering a protest in Salta. None of those responsible for these acts has been penalised, and in some cases the perpetrators have yet to be identified.
PERIODISTAS expressed support for Rubino and called “attention, once again, to the despicable and repeated abuse of power by the security forces against journalists, who attempt to report on Argentina’s social reality.” The organisation also urged Minister Ramon Mestre to investigate the attacks and to apply penalties that are similar to those for attacks of comparable severity.
“Political and police authorities in charge of internal security should understand that there will be no end to such acts while no disciplinary action is taken and such excesses, which feed the violence that civil servants insist they are fighting against, are permitted to go on,” the organisation concluded.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the minister of the interior:
– calling on him to investigate and clarify such incidents and penalise those national security force members responsible for attacks against journalists
– noting that the authorities should clearly communicate to those who fall within the state’s orbit and are in charge of citizens’ security that similar excesses and undisciplined acts constitute violations against people’s rights and that those responsible will receive the deserving punishment
Appeals To
Ramon Bautista Mestre
Minister of the Interior
Ministry of the Interior
Fax: +4331 4571 / 7051 / 59
E-mail: webmaster@mininterior.gov.ar
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
