(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC of International PEN condemns the sentence handed down on 4 June 2002 to former journalist Michelle Lescure for alleged “crimes against honour”. Lescure, former editor of the newspaper “El Siglo”, and Jaime Padilla Béliz, the newspaper’s former owner, were sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment. Carmen Boyd Marciaq, an “El Siglo” columnist, was […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC of International PEN condemns the sentence handed down on 4 June 2002 to former journalist Michelle Lescure for alleged “crimes against honour”.
Lescure, former editor of the newspaper “El Siglo”, and Jaime Padilla Béliz, the newspaper’s former owner, were sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment. Carmen Boyd Marciaq, an “El Siglo” columnist, was given a twelve-month sentence. Lescure and Padilla had their sentences commuted to fines of US$500 and Boyd’s was commuted to US$200, all payable within six months. Lescure has declared publicly that she will not pay the fine, and so risks having to serve her prison sentence.
Lescure was charged with three separate cases of dishonouring public figures. She was acquitted on two counts after proving the accuracy of the “El Siglo” articles. The third case centred on an 11 February 1999 report by Boyd which claimed that boxing commentator Juan Carlos Tapia lived in luxury whilst his ailing sister was cared for in a shelter for poor people. The claims were repeated in “El Siglo” on 1 March.
However, Lescure claims that she was no longer acting as editor for “El Siglo” at the time of the publication of the articles. In court she produced sworn statements from staff at the newspaper to the effect that she was not working at “El Siglo” at the time and had no connection with the articles whatsoever. Lescure has herself condemned the inaccuracies of the pieces and their unethical nature.
During the trial, the former editor also requested that the Public Affairs Ministry investigate whether she was the newspaper’s editor when the articles were published but they failed to do so, and no “El Siglo” staff were called to testify. Prosecutors for the state also failed to notify Lescure of the trial and she only discovered that it was due to take place a day beforehand. Of the 200 or so journalists in all media in Panama, no fewer than 91 are known to have at least one defamation case pending against them under the country’s notorious “gag laws”. Ironically, the plaintiff in the Lescure lawsuit, Tapia, is also reported to be due to stand trial in such a case.
Most of the repressive legislation under which journalists are brought to trial was drafted during the military dictatorships of the 1970s and ’80s. Although some of the worst elements were repealed in 1999, Panama still has some of the most repressive and wide-ranging anti-freedom of expression laws in the region.
Without condoning the content of the articles in question, International PEN calls upon the Panamanian authorities to quash the sentence against Lescure pending a review of her trial. It also calls for an urgent examination of outstanding laws which have led to the attempted gagging of the press by the routine bringing of charges against journalists. PEN considers that custodial sentences for “defamation” and “crimes against honour” are wholly inappropriate and that such cases should be heard by civil rather than criminal courts.
Recommended Action
Send letters of support to:
Michelle Lescure
E-mail: contacto@portal-pfc.org
Send appeals to the president:
– calling for the immediate quashing of the charge against Lescure pending a review of her trial
– urging the Panamanian authorities to repeal the so-called “gag laws” and decriminalise such offences of alleged defamation
Appeals To
S.E. Mireya Elisa Moscoso de Gruber
President
Office of the President
Presidential Palace
Panamá City, Panamá
Fax: +507 227 0076
E-mail: (c/o Permanent Representative to UN) panama@un.int
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
