(HRW/IFEX) – On 14 April 1999, a Chilean judge ordered the immediate confiscation of all copies of “The Black Book of Chilean Justice” by journalist Alejandra Matus. Police, acting on the orders of a Santiago appeals court, raided the warehouse of the publishers, Planeta, and made off with the entire stock of the book, which […]
(HRW/IFEX) – On 14 April 1999, a Chilean judge ordered the immediate
confiscation of all copies of “The Black Book of Chilean Justice” by
journalist Alejandra Matus. Police, acting on the orders of a Santiago
appeals court, raided the warehouse of the publishers, Planeta, and made off
with the entire stock of the book, which had been launched the previous day.
Planeta’s general editor, Carlos Orellana, said yesterday he was expecting
police to raid bookshops across the city in search of copies already on
sale.
“The Black Book of Chilean Justice” is said to be a well-researched expose
of corruption in the Chilean judiciary. It contains hitherto unpublished
episodes involving senior justices, some of who are still in office, as well
as a searing critique of the judiciary under the dictatorship of Augusto
Pinochet.
Within hours of the launch, one of the judges named, Servando Jordan Lopez,
filed a petititon against the author for violating the Law of State Security
(LSE). This law, which dates from 1958, makes it an imprisonable offence to
publish statements considered defamatory by senior officials of the
government, the armed forces and the judiciary (see footnote). The judge to
whom Justice Jordan filed his complaint, Rafael Huerta of the Santiago
Appeals Court, opened a prosecution against Matus, and ordered the seizure
of the book, with what the press described as “unusual celerity.” Although
the LSE does not explicitly empower judges to impound books, other Chilean
laws give judges discretion to do so, at the request of any litigant filing
a libel or defamation complaint. Fearing her imminent arrest, Matus took a
plane to Argentina.
Jordan reacted in an identical manner to press criticism last year. Two
leading Chilean journalists, Fernando Paulsen Silva, then Director of
Chile’s bestselling newspaper, “La Tercera”, and “La Tercera” reporter Jose
Ale, are still facing charges under the LSE for articles referring to the
judge, who narrowly escaped impeachment in 1997 for corruption allegations.
Two others were also charged for a humour article with an irreverent
reference to Jordan. They were later released after a wave of protest.
Alejandra Matus is one of Chile’s most distinguished young investigative
journalists. She graduated from the Catholic University of Chile in 1987,
began her career on the prestigious opposition weekly “Hoy”, and has
subsequently worked on “La Ultimas Noticias”, “Pluma y Pincel” and Radio
Nuevo Mundo. In 1990 she joined the staff of “La Epoca”, a now defunct
newspaper which championed human rights during the last years of the
military dictatorship, and in democracy. In 1996, “El Pais” awarded Matus
and her colleague Francisco Artaza their annual Ortega y Gasset Prize for an
investigation, originally published in “La Nacion”, of the murder in
Washington of former Chilean foreign minister Orlando Letelier.
Note: see Human Rights Watch’s November 1998 report “The Limits of
Tolerance: Freedom of Expression and the Public Debate in Chile” for a full
analysis of the State Security Law and its grave effects on freedom of
expression and government accountability.
