(IPYS/IFEX) – On the morning of 21 May 2003, officials seized a cassette from a Televen news crew. The television station crew was reporting on a robbery carried out at dawn that same day in the offices of the Foreign Relations Ministry. Reporter Johan Merchán was standing outside the building known as the Casa Amarilla […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On the morning of 21 May 2003, officials seized a cassette from a Televen news crew. The television station crew was reporting on a robbery carried out at dawn that same day in the offices of the Foreign Relations Ministry.
Reporter Johan Merchán was standing outside the building known as the Casa Amarilla together with his cameraman who was filming events. One of the security officials stopped them from filming and asked them to leave.
According to Merchán, he and the cameraman arrived at the site just as representatives of the Scientific and Criminal Investigations Unit (Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas, CICPC) were arriving. The CICPC officials allowed the news crew to enter the ministry’s offices without asking for their identification.
Once inside, the Televen cameraman again began filming the scene of the crime. A security guard approached the news crew and asked them if they were with the CICPC. When the journalists identified themselves, a group of about six people surrounded the cameraman, seized the cassette from his camera and escorted the news crew outside.
Merchán and his cameraman spoke with the ministry’s press relations department but were unable to retrieve their material. According to Merchán, a ministry official named Martín ordered that the tape be erased and accused the news crew of posing as CICPC officials.
