(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 13 June 2003 IAPA press release: IAPA recalls still-unpunished murder of journalist in Brazil Miami, Florida (June 13, 2003) – In a new stage in its campaign aimed at raising awareness of the need to bring those responsible for the murder of journalists to justice, the Inter American Press […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 13 June 2003 IAPA press release:
IAPA recalls still-unpunished murder of journalist in Brazil
Miami, Florida (June 13, 2003) – In a new stage in its campaign aimed at raising awareness of the need to bring those responsible for the murder of journalists to justice, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today called on members of the public to ask the governor of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, Rosinha Garotinho, for her cooperation in connection with the investigation into the murder of Brazilian journalist Reinaldo Coutinho da Silva eight years ago.
Since last month, through advertisements in more than a hundred publications throughout the Western Hemisphere, the IAPA has been inviting readers to join its campaign titled “Let’s Put an End to Impunity” – a reference to the still-unpunished murders of 269 journalists committed in the Americas in the past 15 years. Members of the public may visit the IAPA’s special website, www.impunidad.com, to sign petitions addressed to the relevant government officials.
On August 29, 1995, Coutinho da Silva, editor of the newspaper Cachoeiras Jornal in Cachoeira de Macacu, Rio de Janeiro state, was driving his car when he was shot 14 times from another vehicle. The case file went missing for a long time until a state attorney took over the investigation. Nevertheless, little progress was made. “The criminal underworld is involved in all of this,” the state attorney commented. “The investigation aimed at identifying the culprits will move ahead only as far as the government provides resources for it.”
The campaign against impunity that the IAPA is undertaking, through its Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, is being funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The ongoing project includes courses on investigative reporting, training for reporters in danger zones and monitoring of the state of press freedom in the Americas.
Newspapers and magazines throughout the hemisphere, IAPA members and non-members alike, have voluntarily joined the four-year campaign. Each month they provide free-of-charge space to display advertisements that call for justice. Recently, thousands of readers signed a letter to Mexican President Vicente Fox asking him to ensure that the 1988 murder of journalist Héctor Félix Miranda in Tijuana is solved.
Several days ago, two more journalists were murdered in separate incidents in Brazil. In expressing its sorrow, the IAPA publicly called on Brazilian authorities to carry out an immediate investigation to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.
