CPJ condemns arrest and conviction of former television station manager

(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is strongly condemning the18 June 1999 arrest and conviction of Julio Sotelo Casanova, the former general manager of the television station Frecuencia Latina-Canal 2. CPJ regards Sotelo’s jailing as further evidence of a systematic campaign against the independent press in Peru. **Updates IFEX alerts on the Ivcher case of 16 June, 26 […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is strongly condemning the18 June 1999 arrest and
conviction of Julio Sotelo Casanova, the former general manager of the
television station Frecuencia Latina-Canal 2. CPJ regards Sotelo’s jailing
as further evidence of a systematic campaign against the independent press
in Peru.

**Updates IFEX alerts on the Ivcher case of 16 June, 26 May, 9 April, 22
March and 9 March 1999; IFEX alerts on the “La República” case of 16 June,
14 June, 8 June and 1 June 1999; and IFEX alerts on the APRODEV Internet
page of 11 June, 7 June, 2 June, 28 May, 21 May, 17 May, 20 April and 8
April 1999 and 2 December 1998**

On 18 June, the Court of Tax and Customs Crimes, headed by interim Judge
Nicolás Trujillo Lopez, ruled that Sotelo was guilty of fraud and illegal
alteration of corporate documents. Sotelo is alleged to have illegally
transferred shares of Frecuencia Latina-Canal 2 from Baruch Ivcher, the
majority shareholder, to his four daughters in 1997.

In July of that year, Ivcher, who was born in Israel, was stripped of his
adopted Peruvian citizenship and thereby made ineligible to own a television
station under Peruvian law. As stated in past letters, we believe this
action was taken in direct reprisal for investigative reports of Frecuencia
Latina-Canal 2, including stories that implicated Peru’s intelligence
services in the wiretapping of journalists and members of the opposition.
Ivcher is now in exile in the United States and Israel. The charges against
Sotelo were filed by Frecuencia Latina-Canal 2’s former minority owners, the
brothers Mendel and Samuel Winter, who currently exercise majority control
over the station.

Sotelo is serving sentence in San Jorge Prison. Because he suffers from poor
health, he has petitioned for transfer to a hospital for medical treatment.
His sentence is in appeal before the Appeals Court of Tax and Customs
Crimes. CPJ believes the ruling against Sotelo lacks merit. According to
CPJ’s information, it has been duly established that Ivcher’s daughters have
been legitimate shareholders in Frecuencia Latina-Canal 2 since 1994.
Incarceration is an unprecedented punishment for the crimes of which Sotelo
is accused and can therefore only be understood as a warning against Ivcher
and his associates. In CPJ’s opinion, Sotelo’s conviction provides further
evidence of a campaign of political persecution aimed at decimating
investigative journalism in Peru.

In fact, CPJ is currently reviewing documents, allegedly produced by the
Peruvian intelligence services, that outline a campaign of systematic
harassment and intimidation against independent journalists. One memorandum,
addressed to the director of the Army Intelligence Service and titled
“Journalists II,” notes, “investigative journalists will be investigated one
by one and followed to their work and to their home; any detail referring to
special assignments that they are carrying out will be noted.” A 24 June
1997, memorandum alleges that the goal of Frecuencia Latina-Canal 2 is “to
endanger the work carried out by the government and the army on a national
and international level” and “to remove the current president of the
republic, Alberto Fujimori.” Given the pattern of government-authored
harassment of the independent press, CPJ finds it plausible that the
campaign mentioned in the documents they are reviewing does indeed exist.

On 3 May 1999, World Press Freedom Day, CPJ named President Fujimori one of
the world’s ten worst enemies of the press. Since then, CPJ has seen no sign
of improvement of the situation of independent journalists in Peru.

Based on evidence CPJ has received, CPJ believes that the Internet website
of the Association for the Defense of the Truth (APRODEV) was created and
maintained at the behest of Peru’s intelligence services with the sole
intention of defaming journalists and opponents of your government. After
the 20th Lima Criminal Court ruled on 11 May that APRODEV had to remove
defamatory articles, the two judges who handled the case – Greta Minaya and
Antonia Saquicuray of the 20th and 47th Lima Criminal Courts, respectively –
were replaced. (Sotelo was one of the people who filed the defamation
charges against APRODEV as Ivcher’s representative.)

After the Institute for Press and Society (IPYS) instigated the legal action
against those responsible for publishing the defamatory articles on
APRODEV’s website, IPYS’ e-mail was deliberately sabotaged, according to
technicians.

On 31 May, a new publication hit the stands in Lima, bearing the name
“Repúdica”, a derisive play on the name of the Lima-based daily “La
República”. The sole purpose of “Repúdica” seems to be defaming journalists
and members of the opposition. This inflamatory publication joins other
tabloids such as “El Tío”, which over the last few months has incessantly
published defamatory articles about “La República” publisher and congressman
for the opposition Gustavo Mohme
Llona. Given earlier evidence that the Peruvian intelligence services were
behind the publication of those tabloids, CPJ suspects official government
involvement in the publication of “Repúdica”.

When CPJ met with President Fujimori one year ago on 23 June, he promised to
investigate a possible campaign against independent journalists. CPJ has not
received any results from this investigation despite repeated requests.
Because of evidence of an orchestrated campaign against the independent
press, and because the president has failed to meet commitments made to CPJ
to investigate past abuses, CPJ is holding him responsible for the legal
harassment, as well as the threats and intimidation of the independent
press.

Recommended Action

His Excellency

Alberto Fujimori

President of the Republic of Peru

Lima, Peru

Fax: +51 1 427 6722