(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 24 August 2006 IAPA press release: Ensure safety of threatened journalist, IAPA urges Brazil Miami, Florida (August 24, 2006) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today called on the Brazilian authorities to take action to ensure the personal safety of reporter Maria Mazzei from the newspaper O Dia […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 24 August 2006 IAPA press release:
Ensure safety of threatened journalist, IAPA urges Brazil
Miami, Florida (August 24, 2006) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today called on the Brazilian authorities to take action to ensure the personal safety of reporter Maria Mazzei from the newspaper O Dia after she received death threats this week.
According to the management of the Rio de Janeiro daily, the state Civil Police, who are handling the investigation into the matter, reported that as of August 21 they had been unable to determine who had been making the threats. Despite remaining hidden, Mazzei has been continuing to receive threats.
“We express our solidarity with the journalist and we ask the authorities to see to it that those making the threats are identified,” said Gonzalo Marroquín, chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information. “Finding out where this attempt at intimidation is coming from will send a positive message to the journalist and her Brazilian colleagues about the importance of being able to continue doing their jobs without fear of reprisals or having to resort to self-censorship.”
Mazzei wrote a series of reports in O Dia on “Mafia dos Corpos” (The Body Snatchers), traffickers in dead bodies and false death certificates defrauding insurance companies. The first report was published on May 13 this year and led to two of those involved in the scam being jailed.
Mazzei began receiving threats after exposing the participation of a former Merchant Marine office, George Sarkis, in the fraud. Her family also received telephoned threats and an unidentified car was seen staking out her home.
In order to ensure her safety the newspaper company moved her and her family to a safe house under police protection, but she continued receiving threats this week.
Marroquín, editor of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Prensa Libre, said that meanwhile police in São Paulo state had so far failed to capture those involved in the kidnapping of reporter Guilherme Portanova and crew member Alexandre Coelho Calado from TV Globo television station.
The two were abducted on the morning of August 12. Calado was freed that same evening and delivered to his TV station a DVD then aired as a condition for Portanova’s release. The video contained a message from members of the self-styled First Commando of the Capital (PCC). The reporter was freed once the message was broadcast.
