(IPYS/IFEX) – On 13 October 2000, Hugo Meza Layza, a journalist in Coishco, a district close to the city of Chimbote, in the department of Ancash, received a one-year suspended prison sentence and was ordered to pay 300 soles (approx. US$85) in damages. Judge María Luisa Kuo Ying Chly, head of the Second Criminal Court, […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 13 October 2000, Hugo Meza Layza, a journalist in Coishco, a district close to the city of Chimbote, in the department of Ancash, received a one-year suspended prison sentence and was ordered to pay 300 soles (approx. US$85) in damages.
Judge María Luisa Kuo Ying Chly, head of the Second Criminal Court, issued the sentence following a complaint filed against Meza Layza for “assuming the professional titles of journalist and engineer, when he lacks such accreditation”.
Meza Layza is an amateur investigative journalist, working as a freelancer in Chimbote. When the complaint was filed against him in June 1999, his investigative reports appeared on Diálogo – a well known investigative programme broadcast on Frecuencia Latina – Canal 2 television station. However, the journalist was not employed by the programme or the television station, but instead directly arranged each contract with Obed Matías, the programme’s director and host.
In a prior telephone interview with IPYS, held after the complaint was filed, Matías confirmed that he received reports directly from Meza Layza and that they arranged payment without involving the programme or the television station. Matías had also praised the journalist’s honesty, dedication and professionalism. IPYS has a video copy of the Diálogo programme shown on Frecuencia Latina, in which one of Meza Layza’s reports appears.
Nevertheless, in May 1999, a National Peruvian Police (Policía Nacional del Perú, PNP) official, Captain Wilmer Vásquez Delgado, initiated a campaign aimed at questioning the journalist’s credibility. The complaint followed Meza Layza’s reports accusing the captain of committing crimes and irregularities. The captain obtained a fax from Frecuencia Latina denying any connection between the journalist and the station’s press team. Vásquez used that fax to get Javier Arroyo Vergel, deputy mayor of Coishco district, and Nelson Ayala Muñoz, governor of Moro district, to bring criminal charges for extortion and false representation, respectively, against the journalist.
Business cards, allegedly given by Meza Layza to his accusers, which list his name, telephone number and the Frecuencia Latina logo, were used as evidence to support both charges. Nevertheless, the journalist has denied ever having given out such cards, or having ordered them made.
Police officers from the Coishco police station warned the journalist to be careful with what he was doing, as the captain’s intention was to have him detained before the results of the journalist’s investigation implicating the captain were made public. In addition, Meza Layza began receiving threatening telephone calls, in which he was told: “you are going to die.” He informed IPYS of these calls on more than one occasion.
Despite all this, the charges against the journalist proceeded and Judge Kuo Ying sentenced him.
Ítalo Jiménez, editor of “La Industria de Chimbote” daily, stated that the sentence for “unlawful exercise of the profession”, disregards the spirit and letter of Clause 4, Article 2 of the Constitution and Law 26937, which “expressly states that freedom of expression can be freely exercised by all individuals, without being required to display a professional title or accreditation”. Roger Padilla Quiroz, president of the Federated Centre for Chimbote Journalists (Centro Federado de Periodistas de Chimbote), and Augusto Riera Rodríguez, correspondent for Radioprogramas del Perú, in Chimbote, have also expressed their concern over the sentence, which they consider unfounded.
After the sentence was read out, Meza Layza, with the assistance of his lawyer, Jorge Barnechea Borne, filed an appeal seeking to annul the Superior Court judges’ verdict. “This is an injustice. How is it possible that they sentence me to a year of prison without sufficient evidence to prove that I have committed a crime. All the accusations are pure speculation, they are just looking to hurt me,” the journalist stated.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
– calling for an impartial process which will take into consideration any new evidence
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:
Ing. Alberto Fujimori Fujimori
President of the Republic
Fax: +51 1 427 6722 / 426 6535
Dr. Víctor Raúl Castillo Castillo
President of the Peruvian Supreme Court
Fax: +51 1 428 0803
Dr. Blanca Nélida Colán
Attorney General
Fax: +51 1 426 2474
Dr. María Luisa Kuo Ying
Judge of the Chimbote Second Criminal Court
Fax: +51 44 34 4464
Dr. Jorge Egoavil Abad
President of the Santa Province Superior Court
Fax: +51 44 34 4464
Dr. Jorge Santistevan de Noriega
Ombudsman
Fax: +51 1 426 6657
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
