(IPYS/IFEX) – On 19 March 1998, the Second Criminal Court of Lima (SJPL) rejected the accusations presented by public prosecutor Alejandro Espino Mendez against journalist Jose Arrieta Mattos, former head of the Investigative Reporting Unit at Frecuencia Latina. Arrieta was to have been prosecuted for obstruction of justice and general contempt. Meanwhile, criminal prosecutor Nerida […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 19 March 1998, the Second Criminal Court of Lima (SJPL)
rejected the accusations presented by public prosecutor Alejandro Espino
Mendez against journalist Jose Arrieta Mattos, former head of the
Investigative Reporting Unit at Frecuencia Latina. Arrieta was to have been
prosecuted for obstruction of justice and general contempt. Meanwhile,
criminal prosecutor Nerida Neiva has begun proceedings against Jose Luis
Bazan, a former agent with the army’s intelligence service (el Servicio de
Inteligencia del Ejercito, SIE) for grievances against the State and
Arrieta.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 9 March, 12 February and 7 January 1998, and 17
December 1997**
In accordance with the law, the judge shelved the accusation against Arrieta
for lack of evidence. Prosecutor Espino Mendez had brought proceedings
against Arrieta on suspicion of having induced Bazan, who has been named by
the Colina Group (Grupo Colina), of attempting to dynamite the house of
member of Congress Javier Diez Canseco (IU) on 14 November 1991. Bazan made
various statements in 1995 that he, among others, had participated in this
attempt. Several months ago, however, he retracted those comments and stated
that he had been pressured by Arrieta.
Some observers have commented that the court’s decision is the result of
international pressure that this case has generated. Other observers have
cautioned that one should not rule out the possibility that Arrieta may face
reprisals upon his return to Peru, both for his reporting and for the
international repercussions his case has generated. According to IPYS, the
decision not to prosecute Arrieta, while commendable, may not be the final
word in this case.
Background Information
In his work with Frecuencia Latina, Arrieta produced a series of reports on
the paramilitary group Colina, which was allegedly responsible for a
dynamite attack on Congressman Javier Diez Canseco in 1990. Arrieta’s
source for that story was ex-military intelligence officer Jose Luis Bazan
Adrianzen, a former member of Colina. In several interviews, aired in
January 1995 and in April 1997, Bazan admitted that he participated in the
dynamite attack. He was jailed in April 1997 for eight months for having
revealed state secrets. After being released from prison in December 1997,
Bazan suddenly recanted his testimony
Arrieta was forced to leave Peru on 7 January 1998 after being informed that
there were plans to have him arrested and prosecuted on charges of having
induced Bazan to dynamite Congressman Diez Canseco’s house.(this background
information is from the Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) alert,
issued on the IFEX network on 12 February 1998).
