(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 16 December 2003 IAPA press release: IAPA pleased at sentencing of murderer of Brazilian journalist Miami (December 16, 2003) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) praised the judicial system in Brazil for bringing to a close the case of murdered journalist Sávio Brandão, who was killed last year, […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 16 December 2003 IAPA press release:
IAPA pleased at sentencing of murderer of Brazilian journalist
Miami (December 16, 2003) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) praised the judicial system in Brazil for bringing to a close the case of murdered journalist Sávio Brandão, who was killed last year, and urged authorities to continue with investigations into other crimes against journalists in Brazil.
On December 11, former Military Police corporal Araújo Agostinho was sentenced to 18 years in jail for Brandão’s murder. Brandão was the founder and president of Folha do Estado newspaper in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, south-central Brazil.
“We are pleased with what Brazilian justice has done to those guilty of the crime, which shows that it is possible to determine responsibility and apply the law against those who are guilty. We are confident that authorities will continue the investigation to find those who planned the crime and, moreover, investigate other cases of murdered journalists,” declared Alberto Ibargüen, Chairman of the IAPA’s Committee Against Impunity.
Brandão published stories in Folha do Estado in which he denounced organized crime, illegal gambling, and the illegal use of slot machines in Cuiabá. According to his family, the journalist had been threatened. On September 30, when he was leaving the construction site of the newspaper’s new headquarters, two men on motorcycles approached him and fired at least ten rounds.
The day after his death, three suspects were arrested for other murders in the region, among them Araújo Agostinho. Bullets were found in his home for a 9-millimeter gun that matched those found at the crime scene.
Ibargüen, publisher of The Miami Herald Publishing Company, stated that the majority of the 22 murder cases in Brazil, reported by the IAPA in the last 15 years, remain unpunished. Since the creation of the IAPA’s Rapid Response Unit in 2000, 18 cases have been investigated and 6 have been presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
For more information please visit: http://www.impunidad.com
