(IPYS/IFEX) – IPYS reports that, on 3 March 1998, Public Prosecutor Alejandro Espino Mendez made a request for the initiation of legal proceedings against journalist Jose Arrieta, accused of obstructing justice and of general contempt. **Updates IFEX alerts of 17 December 1997, 7 January 1998 and 12 February 1998** The charges are based on the […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – IPYS reports that, on 3 March 1998, Public Prosecutor
Alejandro Espino Mendez made a request for the initiation of legal
proceedings against journalist Jose Arrieta, accused of obstructing
justice and of general contempt.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 17 December 1997, 7 January 1998 and 12 February
1998**
The charges are based on the presumption that Arrieta induced a former
agent of the Army Intelligence Service (SIE), Jose Luis Bazan, to give a
false version of events regarding an attack on the home of Member of
Congress Javier Diez Canseco. In an interview with Arrieta at the end of
1994, Bazan gave supposed details about the attack, which was reportedly
organized and carried out by agents of the SIE.
Arrieta was obliged to leave the country on 7 January 1998 after being
informed that there were plans to have him arrested and prosecuted. His
prosecution is now imminent.
Background Information
As head of the Investigative Reporting unit at Channel 2, Arrieta was
responsible for the revealing reports on the program “Contrapunto” which
informed the public nationally and internationally of the torture which
former Intelligence agent Leonor La Rosa was subjected to by members of
her own institution, as well as the assassination, still not solved, of
her college Mariela Barreto Riofano. As well, the Investigative unit was
in charge of the investigations which led Contrapunto to produce reports
of major impact about the SIE’s vast network for tapping the phones of
politicians – primarily of the opposition – as well as journalists,
business-people, judges, and Ambassador Javier de Cuellar, former
Secretary General of the United Nations and former presidential candidate
(see IFEX alerts).
IPYS considers the charges against Arrieta to be a grave threat against
the freedom of expression and freedom of the press, in addition to other
incidents previously denounced. This act confirms the validity of the
alerts which IPYS and other organizations defending journalists have been
producing on this case.
