(IPYS/IFEX) – On Saturday, 17 April 1999, at about 1:30 a.m. (local time), the general director of Radio Rioja, Teofilo Juan Mori Mendoza, was verbally and physically attacked by attorney José Manuel Monteverde Tuesta, who was in a bar in the city with some companions. **For background on the Tito Pilco Mori see IFEX alerts […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On Saturday, 17 April 1999, at about 1:30 a.m. (local time),
the general director of Radio Rioja, Teofilo Juan Mori Mendoza, was verbally
and physically attacked by attorney José Manuel Monteverde Tuesta, who was
in a bar in the city with some companions.
**For background on the Tito Pilco Mori see IFEX alerts of 22 March and 9
March 1999, and 29 October and 5 September 1997**
According to the information given to IPYS by the journalist, he arrived at
the bar with a friend after having attended a meeting at his club. When they
entered the bar, Monteverde, who along with his companions appeared to be
quite drunk, began to criticise and insult Rioja journalists. A few moments
later, one of the attorney’s friends came up to Mori’s table and began to
insult him and criticise his journalistic work. The journalist responded
that this was not the time to discuss such things and that they could so at
another time. Then the man, who is identified as Romel Pizango Solsol, a
professor at the Advanced Technological Institute, punched Mori in the face.
Monteverde took advantage of this moment to hold down the journalist’s arms,
making it easier for him to be beat up.
As a result of the heavy beating, Mori’s face has been disfigured, he has
problems seeing out of his left eye, and he is slowly recuperating from the
incident. In contrast, Monteverde is claiming that the attacked journalist
was the aggressor, and he has asked for a medical and legal examination of
his friend Pizango.
It should be noted that Monteverde is assistant attorney for the Criminal
Public prosecutor’s office in Rioja. Among other crimes, he has been
investigated for having been implicated in the planning of the assassination
of journalist Tito Pilco Mori, which occurred in September 1997 under
suspicious circumstances. On two separate occasions, the Public Prosecutor’s
office, where Monteverde is an assistant, ordered that the case be
definitively closed (see IFEX alerts).
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
parties be punished
Appeals To
Alberto Fujimori Fujimori
President of the Republic
Lima, Peru
Fax: +51 1 426 6535Miguel Aljovín Swayne
Attorney General
Fax: +51 1 426 2474Jorge Santistevan de Noriega
Ombudsman
Fax: +51 1 426 6657Antonio Ruiz Sánchez
Senior Prosecutor of the Judicial District of San Martín
Fax: +511 094 563 191
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
