(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 17 April 2003 IAPA press release: IAPA urges IACHR to take up case of unpunished murder of journalist MIAMI, Florida (April 17, 2003) – On the fifth anniversary of the murder of Colombian journalist Nelson Carvajal Carvajal, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) reiterated a call to the Inter-American […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 17 April 2003 IAPA press release:
IAPA urges IACHR to take up case of unpunished murder of journalist
MIAMI, Florida (April 17, 2003) – On the fifth anniversary of the murder of Colombian journalist Nelson Carvajal Carvajal, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) reiterated a call to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to take up the case. The organisation noted that the crime remains unpunished despite every legal recourse having been resorted to in Colombia.
The Carvajal case was initially submitted to the IACHR on June 21, 2002. Based on new evidence that has emerged concerning irregularities in the official investigation and in the legal process – among them delays due to four public prosecutors becoming successively involved, threats to
witnesses and the victim’s relatives, and the fact that other lines of inquiry were not pursued – the IAPA reiterated its request for IACHR intervention. The organisation called for the case to be dealt with under the inter-American justice system, given the shortcomings in the process in the country of origin.
Carvajal was killed on April 16, 1998, in Pitalito, in the southwestern Colombian province of Huila, where he was editor of the news segment of on-air magazines “Mirador de la Semana” (Window on the Week), “Amanecer en el Campo” (Dawn in the Countryside) and “Tribuna Médica” (Medical Tribune), broadcast by Emisora Radio Sur radio station. A hired gunman
shot him seven times. It is believed he was killed for his allegations of political corruption in Pitalito.
For more information on the case, which was investigated by the IAPA’s Rapid Response Unit, visit the Web site: www.impunidad.com
