(IPYS/IFEX) – On 22 November 1999, Alfredo Bartolo Polo, director and founder of the Trujillo bi-weekly “Somos Norte”, was charged with defamation by Hermogenes Mendoza Alcalde, president of the Casa Grande sugar refinery board. The charges are motivated by Bartolo Polo’s critical position with regards to irregularities in the refinery’s privatisation process. Mendoza Alcalde maintained […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 22 November 1999, Alfredo Bartolo Polo, director and founder of the Trujillo bi-weekly “Somos Norte”, was charged with defamation by Hermogenes Mendoza Alcalde, president of the Casa Grande sugar refinery board. The charges are motivated by Bartolo Polo’s critical position with regards to irregularities in the refinery’s privatisation process.
Mendoza Alcalde maintained the penal charges, alleging that Bartolo Polo “intentionally and knowingly” defamed both himself and others. Mendoza Alcalde added that Bartolo Polo’s claims are unsubstantiated, and that it is evident the journalist “put his pen, and the bi-weekly he directs, at the service of those people who have the greatest interest in causing moral harm to the plaintiff.”
On 29 November, Ascope’s provincial judge, Liliana Aran Castro, initiated legal proceedings against Bartolo Polo, summoning him for a preliminary hearing on 6 December. Moreover, the judge stated that the journalist “must refrain from commenting or referring to the plaintiff [Mendoza] or the facts under investigation [the conduct of Casa Grande], under warning that he will be considered a repeat criminal.
According to the journalist, the summons, which was supposedly delivered by a girl on 5 December, did not arrive until 6 December, which made it impossible for him to comply with the summons. The intervention of lawyer Julio Cesar Moran Otiniano was necessary in order to assist Bartolo Polo to secure another date for the preliminary hearing.
On 20 December, Bartolo presented his defence, saying that he had not defamed anyone, and that he did not accuse anybody of anything, because the issues raised in his publication do not relate to any specific individual. Bartolo asserted that they are instead items of common knowledge, in the same vein as other dailies, such as “La Industria”, have also referred to the matter. Moreover, Bartolo Polo affirmed that the process of transferring Casa Grande’s shares involved an uncountable number of people.
According to Bartolo Polo, whenever the arraignment is eventually held, the manner in which the hearing has been executed could prove to be unfavourable for him.
