(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 24 March 2006 IAPA press release: IAPA ASKS COLOMBIAN ATTORNEY GENERAL TO STEP UP INVESTIGATION INTO MURDER OF JOURNALIST Miami (March 24, 2006) – In another step in the hemisphere-wide campaign aimed at raising awareness to solve unpunished murders of journalists, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) requested that […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 24 March 2006 IAPA press release:
IAPA ASKS COLOMBIAN ATTORNEY GENERAL TO STEP UP INVESTIGATION INTO MURDER OF JOURNALIST
Miami (March 24, 2006) – In another step in the hemisphere-wide campaign aimed at raising awareness to solve unpunished murders of journalists, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) requested that the Attorney General of Colombia, Mario Iguarán, intervene so that the investigation to identify the masterminds of the murder of journalist Orlando Sierra will be handled by his office.
Sierra was assistant editor of La Patria newspaper in Manizales, Colombia, when he was murdered on January 20, 2002. Although the judge sentenced the perpetrators to two years in prison, he pointed out that there appears to be evidence implicating other people as the masterminds responsible for the murder. However, the investigation led by the District Attorney’s Office in Manizales has not moved forward and the guilty remain unpunished.
During the last 18 years, 295 journalists have been murdered in the hemisphere. Through the placing of ads in more than 340 publications in the Western Hemisphere, the IAPA is calling on readers to join the “Let’s End Impunity” campaign on its website at http://www.impunidad.com.
The campaign is also aired on radio through a partnership between the IAPA and the International Broadcasting Association (IBA). Several radio spots announce unpunished crimes against journalists and ask listeners to go to http://www.impunidad.com, to sign a petition letter.
“With the support of newspaper readers and radio listeners in the hemisphere, we have made progress in the program against impunity. In this advocacy work with governments on crimes against journalists, efforts have led to some successes, but we still have a big challenge ahead of us,” said Enrique Santos, chairman of the IAPA’s Impunity Committee and editor of El Tiempo newspaper in Bogotá.
This initiative is made possible thanks to financial support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and includes programs on investigative reporting, training of journalists in risky zones, and monitoring of the press freedom situation in the Americas.
