(IFJ/IFEX) – On Wednesday, 21 April 1999, José Santos Cubas Mondragon, journalist with the radio programme “Oriental” and in charge of public relations for the municipality of Jaen, was severely beaten by six police officers from the Jaen division. **For background on other cases against journalists in Jaen see IFEX alerts of 29 March, 24 […]
(IFJ/IFEX) – On Wednesday, 21 April 1999, José Santos Cubas Mondragon,
journalist with the radio programme “Oriental” and in charge of public
relations for the municipality of Jaen, was severely beaten by six police
officers from the Jaen division.
**For background on other cases against journalists in Jaen see IFEX alerts
of 29 March, 24 March, 23 March, 22 March and 19 March 1999**
He was attacked inside the police station, after he went there to ask for a
copy of a police testimony in relation to a domestic case in which he is
involved. The journalist was abandoned on the street near the station,
semiconscious, with signs of having been brutally tortured and with his
clothes torn and frayed. He was taken to another journalist’s house by a
motorcycle taxi driver and then transferred to the Jaen General Hospital.
Santos Cubas accused the Chief of the Peruvian National Police (PNP), José
Gutierrez Huanca, of being the main party responsible for this attack. The
journalist’s only crime was to turn on his taperecorder and to reprimand the
Chief for his attitude against the press. In response, he was punched and
kicked all over his body. Inexplicably, the journalist was held from 6:30
p.m. till 10 p.m. (local time).
On the afternoon of Friday, 23 April, the Jaen branch of the National
Journalists’ Association met to form a committee that would accompany Santos
Cubas on his visit to the Tenth Third Regional Division to denounce the
attack.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
for
the attack against Santos Cubas be punished
reporting
Appeals To
Miguel Aljovín Swayne
Attorney General
Lima, Peru
Fax: +51 14 262 474Jorge Santistevan de Noriega
Ombudsman
Lima, Peru
Fax: +51 14 267 800Fernando Dianderas Otonne
General Director of the PNP
Telefax: +51 14 756 620
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
