(IPYS/IFEX) – Member of Congress Carlos Cuaresma Sánchez, of the Moralistic Independent Front (Frente Independiente Moralizador, FIM), asked Congress to create a special commission that would investigate the attacks and punish those who were responsible for assaulting sixteen journalists while they were reporting on the events of 28 July 2000. Cuaresma stated that, according to […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – Member of Congress Carlos Cuaresma Sánchez, of the Moralistic Independent Front (Frente Independiente Moralizador, FIM), asked Congress to create a special commission that would investigate the attacks and punish those who were responsible for assaulting sixteen journalists while they were reporting on the events of 28 July 2000.
Cuaresma stated that, according to the journalists’ testimonies, police officers and a number of delinquents who had infiltrated that day’s demonstrations had been responsible for the attacks.
The motion submitted to Congress notes that the office of the human rights section for Latin America of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), (Oficina de Derechos Humanos del Periodista (OFIP), Reporters sans frontières (RSF), and the Peruvian National Association of Journalists (Asociacion Nacional de Periodistas del Perú, ANP) had denounced these attacks.
Among those assaulted, were: photojournalists Virgilio Grajeda, Luis Gonzáles and Guillermo Venegas of “La República”; Miguel Carrillo and José Tejada of “etecé” magazine; Roberto Silva of Radio Programas del Perú; Fidel Carrillo of “Liberacion”; Luis Choy and Carlos Lezama of “Ojo”; and José Ibarra of “La Industria – Trujillo”.
Also affected, according to Cuaresma, were Erika Montalvo, Francisco Zacarías and Sergio Cuervo of Cadena Caracol – Colombia, Paul Vanotti of the American agency Public Media Center, and Jaime Rázuri of France Press.
The congressman added that journalist Rosario Vicentello of Canal A, “was assaulted by a police officer who sprayed her in the face with a paralyzing gas, and suffered a serious eye infection as a result.”
