(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 10 March 2003 IAPA press release: IAPA calls sentencing of journalist a setback for freedom of the press in Uruguay Miami (March 10, 2003) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) expressed its alarm and concern over the sentencing of a Uruguayan journalist to seven months in jail for […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 10 March 2003 IAPA press release:
IAPA calls sentencing of journalist a setback for freedom of the press in Uruguay
Miami (March 10, 2003) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) expressed its alarm and concern over the sentencing of a Uruguayan journalist to seven months in jail for defamation and libel, a ruling it views as a “clear setback for freedom of the press” in Uruguay and a “double sentence” against journalism.
Journalist Oscar Ubiría was sentenced to a suspended sentence of seven months in prison after criticizing on his radio program the management of funds raised during a fashion show in the city of Dolores in the eastern department of Soriano, that were to be used for supporting the charitable organization “Dolores Solidario.” Ubiría said in his program, “To Begin to Believe”, on CW 158 San Salvador Radio, that the event last November was a scam since “Dolores Solidario” only received a small percentage of the money raised by private organizers who had tricked the public by holding an event as if it were truly for charitable purposes.
The journalist’s comments, made after having received various calls on the air in which several listeners questioned the distribution of funds raised, created a public outcry which led to him being accused of defamation by two of the organizers. Later, Judge Mariana Mota sentenced the journalist to seven months in jail after which he would have to read a statement by the plaintiffs on the air on two occasions. Two months prior, the journalist had charged the plaintiffs of attacking and threatening him, accusations that were dismissed by District Attorney Pablo Rivas Vignolo, who was the same prosecutor who tried him and requested a prison sentence in this case.
Chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information Rafael Molina said that the Uruguayan justice system’s attitude on this case is a tragic precedent against freedom of the press, viewing the Ubiría case as a “double sentence.” Molina referred not only to the actual sentence of a suspended seven months’ jail term, but also called a “sentence” the fact that it was the same prosecutor who dismissed accusations the journalist had filed against the plaintiffs for having attacked and threatened him.
“The jail sentence is a step backwards for press freedom,” said Molina, explaining that there currently is a movement in case law on an international level to decriminalize libel and slander, issues that are frequently discussed at international forums on justice and freedom of the press
Molina indicated that what most concerns the IAPA is the “punch” that legal attitudes of this kind inflict on the right to public information. “This is a clear message for journalists that does nothing more than intimidate them, resulting in their silence and in self-censorship,” Molina said, observing that they did not only sentence the journalist to jail, but forced him to give a right to reply on two occasions. They attacked and threatened him, and his accusations against the plaintiffs were dismissed.
“We hope,” he said, “that these legal actions are revised and thrown out in other instances, otherwise we would be seeing how the justice system cuts off freedom of the press, a method that was used effectively in regimes like that of Fujimori-Montesinos, where there was such a lack of respect given to the Judicial Branch.”