(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Paraguayan Minister of the Interior Julio Fanego, RSF protested the attack suffered by Mauri Konig, a Brazilian journalist who was attacked by presumed police officers. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, condemned the attack, calling it a “serious attack against press freedom.” RSF called on the minister “to do everything in […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Paraguayan Minister of the Interior Julio Fanego, RSF protested the attack suffered by Mauri Konig, a Brazilian journalist who was attacked by presumed police officers. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, condemned the attack, calling it a “serious attack against press freedom.” RSF called on the minister “to do everything in his power to ensure that the perpetrators are identified and punished”. The organisation also asked to be informed of any advances in the investigation.
According to information obtained by RSF, Konig, a journalist with the Brazilian dialy “O Estado do Parana”, was beaten on 19 December 2000 by three people who were presumed to be police officers, in the city of San Alberto (100 kilometros from the city of Ciudad del Este). The journalist reported that one of the attackers was wearing a uniform and the other two were in civilian clothing. The three men beat him with sticks and a chain. Konig was investigating the Payaguayan police’s forced recruitment of Brazilian youth. The attack occurred just after the journalist had taken photographs of the San Alberto police station. The attackers also destroyed the roll of film that was inside his camera.
