(IPYS/IFEX) – In a unanimous ruling made known on 9 August 2007, the Second Bench of the Supreme Court confirmed the conviction of three journalists of the Chilevisión (CHV) television station for the use of hidden cameras. Press editor Patricio Caldichoury Ríos, journalist Fernando Reyes Amín and producer Raúl Poblete Barrios each received a suspended […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – In a unanimous ruling made known on 9 August 2007, the Second Bench of the Supreme Court confirmed the conviction of three journalists of the Chilevisión (CHV) television station for the use of hidden cameras. Press editor Patricio Caldichoury Ríos, journalist Fernando Reyes Amín and producer Raúl Poblete Barrios each received a suspended three-month prison sentence.
The court absolved Alejandro Guillier Álvarez, who is the television station’s former press editor and a former president of Chile’s Journalists’ Association.
The case goes back to 2003, when CHV broadcast a conversation, recorded with hidden cameras, involving Santiago’s Court of Appeals’ current prosecutor, Judge Daniel Calvo Flóres, in which he admitted having frequented homosexual sex establishments. At the time, Calvo was the investigating judge in a case of pedophilia known as the “Spiniak case” in which politicians were allegedly involved. The judge’s revelation caused a scandal, and resulted in his suspension and his removal from the case. The Supreme Court began to consider the possibility of removing the magistrate from his position, while investigating whether he had committed a crime.
The Journalists’ Association has expressed its support for the Chilevisión journalists.
