(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Serge Ménard, Quebec Public Security Minister, RSF expressed its “profound concern over the attack on Michel Auger, a journalist for the daily ‘Le Journal de Montréal'”. The organisation asked the minister “to do everything in his power to ensure that an extensive investigation is carried out to identify those […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Serge Ménard, Quebec Public Security Minister, RSF expressed its “profound concern over the attack on Michel Auger, a journalist for the daily ‘Le Journal de Montréal'”. The organisation asked the minister “to do everything in his power to ensure that an extensive investigation is carried out to identify those responsible for this attack and punish them”. “This murder attempt constitutes a serious attack against press freedom”, commented Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, who noted that “it is the second time in three years that a journalist has been attacked in Canada for investigations on criminal activities of the Hell’s Angels gang”.
According to information obtained by RSF, on 13 September 2000, an unidentified assailant shot Auger several times before taking flight. The attack happened in the newspaper’s parking lot. Injured in the back and shoulder, the journalist was taken to Montreal General Hospital where he was operated on during the afternoon. His life is not threatened. The police consider this to be an attempted murder. The previous day, Auger, a specialist on organised crime, published an article about a series of murderous attacks within the Hell’s Angels and the mafia. Quoted by Agence France-Presse, the editor-in-chief of “Le Journal de Montréal”, Paule Beaugrand-Champagne, said that the journalist has frequently received threats related to his investigations.
On 4 March 1998, Greg Rasmussen of CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) radio, was given police protection after his home was ransacked. The journalist had broadcast a series of reports on the Hell’s Angels’ gang and on organised crime (see IFEX alert of 5 March 1998).
