(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 27 July 2004 IAPA press release: IAPA asks Colombian Attorney General to continue investigating journalist’s murder Miami (July 27, 2004) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has expressed its concern over the latest court decisions on the murder case of Orlando Sierra, assistant editor of La Patria newspaper, […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 27 July 2004 IAPA press release:
IAPA asks Colombian Attorney General to continue investigating journalist’s murder
Miami (July 27, 2004) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has expressed its concern over the latest court decisions on the murder case of Orlando Sierra, assistant editor of La Patria newspaper, who was killed on January 30, 2002, in Manizales, and asks the Colombian Attorney General’s office to punish the masterminds behind the crime.
“The Attorney General’s office made an effort to bring the case to a close by accusing those they investigated as co-conspirators in the journalist’s murder, but this is not enough since impunity remains for the masterminds behind the crime . . . we fear that this case will become just another statistic of unpunished crimes in Colombia,” declared Rafael Molina, chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information.
Those affected by the court decision to end the investigation are Luis Arley Ortiz Orozco, also known as “Pereque,” and Francisco Antonio Quintero Tabares or Luis Miguel Tabares Hernández, also known as “Tilín,” who are suspected of having ordered the assassination.
In May 2002, Luis Fernando Soto Zapata was sentenced to 19 years and 6 months in prison, after receiving a reduced sentence, a decision the IAPA opposed. Soto Zapata, whose picture was caught on surveillance video cameras, shot Orlando Sierra in front of the newspaper’s offices.
The IAPA urged the Attorney General’s office to continue the investigation after its decision to close the most recent phase of the process for lack of evidence. “We do not understand how, after a two-year investigation, it has not been possible to find a connection between the person who committed the murder and those who were the masterminds, nor to pursue leads on the murders of witnesses involved in the investigation. We cannot be satisfied with the punishment of only those who pulled the trigger,” concluded Molina, from El Nacional newspaper in the Dominican Republic.
