(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 20 June 2005 IAPA press release: IAPA praises convictions of murderers of journalists in Brazil and asks Mexican officials to be firmer against the assailants Miami (June 20, 2005) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) highlighted as a positive step the convictions of several murderers of journalists and […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 20 June 2005 IAPA press release:
IAPA praises convictions of murderers of journalists in Brazil and asks Mexican officials to be firmer against the assailants
Miami (June 20, 2005) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) highlighted as a positive step the convictions of several murderers of journalists and urged officials in Mexico to be firmer against the aggressors.
“We welcome the fact that the Brazilian justice system is taking on in the courts cases of murdered journalists and we hope that the investigations and trials continue to bring back to life those unpunished murderers against journalists,” said Enrique Santos Calderón, chairman of the IAPA’s Committee Against Impunity.
Santos Calderón, co-director of El Tiempo newspaper in Bogotá, Colombia, referred to recent trials in Brazil for the murders of Tim Lopes, from TV Globo, killed in June 2002, and of Domingo Sávio Brandão Lima Júnior, from Folha do Estado, murdered on September 30, 2002.
During separate trials held on May 24 and June 14 for the horrific murder of Lopes, Elias Pereira da Silva (“Crazy Elias”) and Cláudio Orlando do Nascimemto were found guilty and sentenced to 28 years and 6 months and 23 years and 6 months, respectively, in prison. It is hoped that on July 14, trials will continue against others also accused in this crime.
In another two trials held on May 31 and June 16 for the murder of Brandão Lima Júnior, Célio Alves dos Santos and João Leite were sentenced to 17 years and 6 months and 15 years and 2 months, respectively, in prison. Hércules de Araújo Agostinho was convicted in December 2003 for the same murder and is serving an 18-year prison sentence.
On June 30, a trial is expected against one of the accused in the murder of Mário Coelho, from A Verdade, killed on August 16, 2001.
“We praise the decision to solve crimes against journalists as seen recently in Brazil, Colombia, and Nicaragua,” stated Santos Calderón. He explained that in Colombia this past May one of the persons involved in the murder of Orlando Sierra was convicted; while in Nicaragua, in February, the murder of journalist María José Bravo was solved.
“However this situation is in contrast to what we observe in Mexico where violence against the press has intensified, and we hope officials there will become firmer in their resolution to put an end to impunity,” he added.
In Mexico, investigations continue without major developments in the disappearance last April 2 of journalist Alfredo Jiménez Mota and of the murders of Guadalupe García Escamilla, Raúl Giba Guerrero, Gregorio Rodríguez Hernández, Francisco Arratia Saldierna, Francisco Ortiz Franco and Roberto Mora García.
