Journalist convicted of defamation

(IPYS/IFEX) – James Beuzeville Zumaeta, director of the radio programme La Razon, which is broadcast on Radio Arpegio in Iquitos, capital of the province of Maynas, in the department of Loreto, was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison term and ordered to pay 8,000 soles (approximately US$2,300) in civil damages. The journalist was convicted on […]

(IPYS/IFEX) – James Beuzeville Zumaeta, director of the radio programme La Razon, which is broadcast on Radio Arpegio in Iquitos, capital of the province of Maynas, in the department of Loreto, was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison term and ordered to pay 8,000 soles (approximately US$2,300) in civil damages. The journalist was convicted on charges of grievously insulting and defaming José Gonzales Reátegui, the former president of Loreto’s Provisional Council of Regional Administration (Consejo Transitorio de Administracion Regional, CTAR) and a former government minister.

The sentence appears to be final because it was handed down by Criminal Court “C” of the Supreme Court in Lima, over which Carlos Saponara Milligan presides. The decision replaces the journalist’s recent request for the charges to be annulled.

Beuzeville was accused of defamation and slander in November 1997, when attacks against him began for having reported on alleged irregularities and corruption committed by Gonzales while he was president of Loreto’s CTAR.

Gonzales Reátegui is a former public employee who was frequently questioned while in his position as director. The Congressional Inspections Commission (Comision de Fiscalizacion del Congreso), the National Comptroller’s Office (Contraloría General de la República) and the Peruvian Chamber of Construction (Cámara Peruana de la Construccion) all investigated him, and all of them issued final reports that were not favourable. In spite of the convincing evidence that they presented, the previous political regime’s judicial authorities always acquitted Gonzales.

It is worth noting that many of assertions made by Beuzeville appeared in such dailies as “El Comercio” and “La República”. Nevertheless, Beuzeville’s attempt to have the charges annulled was denied.

Andrés Ferreyra Macedo, managing director of Radio Arpegio, told IPYS that an appeal to have the case reviewed had been presented, and expressed confidence that justice would prevail this time.

At the same time, in a 1 December 2000 letter to David Waisman, president of the Commission Investigating the Accounts of Vladimiro Montesinos, Ferreyra condemned the fact that their “4 September verdict was in response to the rejection of an attempted blackmail that originated in the SIN offices, from where he was offered money and advertising in exchange for silencing the criticism his journalists were making of the Fujimori regime.” Ferreyra also indicated in the letter that both Juan Carlos González Sandoval, then general of the Peruvian National Police and current head of the Piura Second Military Region, and Dante Perea Moro, current president of Loreto’s CTAR, offered him a favourable ruling in Criminal Court “C” of the Supreme Court of Justice, where Beuzeville’s case was being heard.

Beuzeville has worked for more than twenty-five years as a journalist, and La Razon is one of most influential programs in Iquitos. During the past few years, he has faced many lawsuits and received constant threats from individuals who, like Gonzales Reátegui, have been the target of criticism and investigations on his program.

Recommended Action

Valentín Paniagua Corazao

President of the Republic

Fax: +51 1 427 6722 / 426 6535

Diego García-Sayán

Minister of Justice

Fax: +51 1 422 3577

Víctor Raúl Castillo Castillo

President of the Supreme Court of Justice

Fax: +51 1 427 0984

Walter Albán Peralta

Attorney General

Fax: +51 1 426 6657