(IPYS/IFEX) – Journalist Johny Pezo was freed at 12:15 p.m. (local time) on 18 January 1999. Pezo’s release was ordered by the Superior Court of Lambayeque, which decided to suspend the journalist’s trial for defending terrorism (“apologia del terrorismo”). The charges against Pezo had kept him in prison in Yurimaguas (in the Amazonian province of […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – Journalist Johny Pezo was freed at 12:15 p.m. (local time) on
18 January 1999. Pezo’s release was ordered by the Superior Court of
Lambayeque, which decided to suspend the journalist’s trial for defending
terrorism (“apologia del terrorismo”). The charges against Pezo had kept him
in prison in Yurimaguas (in the Amazonian province of Alto Amazonas) for
almost two months, following an incident in which he had read a letter by
the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac
Amaru, MRTA). Pezo read the letter on his radio programme under threat of
death by the MRTA.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 8 January 1999, 18 December and 9 December 1998**
According to IPYS, Pezo’s freedom can be traced to action taken by national
and international organisations which had spoken out in favour of the
journalist’s release. The Journalist’s Emergency Network (La Red Periodistas
en Emergencia) became involved in the case, supplying Pezo with legal advice
and travelling on two occasions to Yurimaguas in order to advocate on behalf
of his release and to inform public opinion in the state regarding the
trial. The Journalist’s Emergency Network was to remain pending the
prosecutor’s official statement, which was to have occurred by 19 January.
They will also remain pending the filing of an official complaint against
the judicial administration, brought by Judge Hugo Zela against nineteen
journalists from Yurimaguas who had submitted a brief requesting Pezo’s
release.
Pezo is now free, and in the next few days he will travel to Lima, at the
invitation of the Journalist’s Emergency Network.
