(IPYS/IFEX) – Two journalists from the “La ventana indiscreta” programme, aired on Frecuencia Latina – Canal 2 television station on Sundays, were recently detained for nearly three hours on the orders of a district attorney. The journalists were detained after filming the birthday celebrations of the attorney general, Nelly Calderón Navarro, in a public place. […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – Two journalists from the “La ventana indiscreta” programme, aired on Frecuencia Latina – Canal 2 television station on Sundays, were recently detained for nearly three hours on the orders of a district attorney.
The journalists were detained after filming the birthday celebrations of the attorney general, Nelly Calderón Navarro, in a public place. The incident occurred on the morning of 6 September 2003, in the Lima district of San Isidro.
During the 7 September broadcast of “La ventana indiscreta”, it was revealed that journalists Marco Antonio Vásquez and Diego Fernández Stoll had entered the celebration with their respective invitations and openly filmed the event, considering that it was the birthday of a public figure.
As Vásquez and Fernández Stoll were leaving at the end of the celebration, a group of attorneys verbally attacked them and forced the journalists to hand over their camera so they could remove the videotape.
According to information obtained by the press, District Attorney Mateo Castañeda was involved in the removal of the videotape as well as the imposition of the 24-hour detention order.
In Peru, the constitution states that individuals can only be detained by judicial order or by police during the commission of a crime.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has initiated an investigation to determine if criminal responsibilities should be applied to the district attorneys who participated in the journalists’ detention.
