Journalist Javier Nilo Poma Sotelo, director and presenter of the news program "Huaraz Informa" on Global TV, received several calls on his cell phone in which he and his family were threatened to be killed if he continued to broadcast the violent actions of students on strike at the University of Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo.
On 27 March 2013, journalist Javier Nilo Poma Sotelo, director and presenter of the news program “Huaraz Informa” on Global TV’s subsidiary in Huaraz and correspondent for TV station ATV, received several calls on his cell phone in which he and his family were threatened to be killed if he continued to broadcast the violent actions of some students on strike at the University of Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo in Ancash, a region of northern Peru.
Poma Sotelo told IPYS that two days earlier he had broadcast images of a group of students protesting in front of the university, in which some can be seen throwing stones and attacking the guards at the door, information that was also broadcast nationwide by ATV Noticias the next day.
The journalist later received five anonymous calls, including one from a woman. He was warned that if it continues spreading the images of the university students, he or his family will die.
The journalist has already requested protection for him and his family from the Regional Government and has reported the threats to the local police so they initiate their investigations.
IPYS rejects the threats against Poma Sotelo, which constitute an attack on freedom of expression, and calls on the relevant authorities to protect the journalist and his family and to investigate diligently to find those who have threatened them.
