(IPYS/IFEX) – On 20 March 2006, journalist Andy Ortiz of Canal N television was assaulted when reporting on a meeting of presidential candidate Ollanta Humala and Congress candidates for the Partido Nacionalista Peruano – Unión por el Perú (Peruvian Nationalist Party – Union for Peru) party, in the district of Cercado de Lima. Ortiz went […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 20 March 2006, journalist Andy Ortiz of Canal N television was assaulted when reporting on a meeting of presidential candidate Ollanta Humala and Congress candidates for the Partido Nacionalista Peruano – Unión por el Perú (Peruvian Nationalist Party – Union for Peru) party, in the district of Cercado de Lima.
Ortiz went in search of his cameraman so that he could ask him to videotape a dispute which was erupting among several of the candidate’s followers, when he was stopped by a man – apparently a member of the security team guarding the meeting – who insulted him and pushed him until he fell to the floor. Other reporters present, upon witnessing the act, pursued the aggressor and demanded an explanation, but the individual managed to escape and was protected by other security personnel.
The political party published a notice the same day apologizing for the act of aggression against the journalist and against press freedom, stating that the aggressor would no longer form part of the party’s security team.
IPYS condemns all violence perpetrated against journalists by supporters and security personnel of any political group.
