(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Attorney General Jorge Madrazo Cuellar, RSF protested the harassment of Freddy Secundino Sánchez, a journalist with “Época” weekly, published in Mexico. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, asked Cuellar “for an extensive investigation of the threats and attack directed against the journalist,” and “that measures are taken to ensure the journalist’s […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Attorney General Jorge Madrazo Cuellar, RSF protested the harassment of Freddy Secundino Sánchez, a journalist with “Época” weekly, published in Mexico. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, asked Cuellar “for an extensive investigation of the threats and attack directed against the journalist,” and “that measures are taken to ensure the journalist’s safety.”
On 7 July 2000, according to the information gathered by RSF, Sánchez received a death threat via an anonymous telephone call. Three weeks prior to the call, on 15 June, two men who claimed to work for the judicial police forced him to enter into a taxi. For two hours, the journalist was beaten, interrogated and threatened. He was told: “We came to kill you. Think of those you have dragged through the mud in your bloody magazine, because they are the ones who sent us to finish you off.” The assailants also robbed him of some of his valuables. The attack is apparently linked to a series of articles on the 2 July presidential election.
Despite having been warned that he could face repercussions, Sánchez filed a complaint with the authorities, who have thus far not responded to his request for police protection. On 18 July, the Inter American Commission on Human Rights adopted precautionary measures for the journalist and asked to be informed, within fifteen days, of what similar action the Mexican government was planning to take.
Previously, RSF had expressed concern over the threats Mexican journalists are facing. On 28 April, journalist José Ramírez Puente’s body, which had been stabbed about thirty times, was found in Ciudad Juárez, State of Chihuahua. The assassination may have been linked to the journalist’s investigation on prostitution (see IFEX alerts of 8 and 2 May 2000).
