(IPYS/IFEX) – According to information distributed by IPYS on 29 August 2000, a journalist who was threatened by two lower-ranking members of the Peruvian National Police (Policía Nacional del Perú, PNP) on 21 July, received an unusual police summons, requesting that he appear at the police station “in order to testify with regards to a […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – According to information distributed by IPYS on 29 August 2000, a journalist who was threatened by two lower-ranking members of the Peruvian National Police (Policía Nacional del Perú, PNP) on 21 July, received an unusual police summons, requesting that he appear at the police station “in order to testify with regards to a confidential investigation”.
Moisés Cotrina del Águila, director of the programme Síntesis de la informacion (Information Synthesis), broadcast on Radio Mira in Uchiza, province of Tocache, department of San Martín, has, via his programme, condemned a series of irregularities and arbitrary detentions carried out by members of the Uchiza branch of the PNP.
Following these condemnations, two intoxicated lower-ranking police officers burst into the public offices where Cotrina del Águila was working, insulted him and threatened to kill him. About a month later, he received three summonses, two of which were dated 20 August and did not specify a reason.
As both these summonses were delivered without the required advance warning, Cotrina del Águila sent a letter to Hans Ruíz Marín, captain of the Uchiza PNP, asking for the hearings to be delayed and inquiring as to the reason for the summonses. The journalist noted that “there cannot be matters which are kept confidential from parties involved in the case, as the confidential information must only be kept from those who are not involved in the process.”
Subsequently, on 21 August, the journalist received his third summons, indicating that he was required to appear at the Uchiza PNP headquarters, “in order for them to consider his complaints about the threats he received”.
Cotrina del Águila informed IPYS that during the meeting, he was interviewed by PNP Commander Luis Garibay Tejada, who had arrived by order of Colonel Carlos Cieza Lacho, head of the San Martín – Huánuco Police Front (Frente Policial San Martín – Huánuco). Apparently the reason for the interview was to study in depth the allegations made by some of the detainees, whose views were made public on Cotrina del Águila’s radio programme.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
– asking them to investigate the threats and punish the perpetrators
– calling for guarantees to ensure that Cotrina del Águila’s and his family’s safety is safeguarded, and that he may freely undertake his work as a journalist
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:
Alberto Fujimori Fujimori
President of the Republic
Fax: +51 1 427 6722 / 426 6535
Martha Hildebrandt Pérez
President of Congress
Fax: +51 1 426 8290
César Saucedo Sánchez
Minister of the Interior
Fax: +51 1 224 2405
Jorge Santistevan de Noriega
Ombudsman
Fax: +51 1 426 6657
Lieutenant General Fernando Dianderas Otonne
Director General of the National Peruvian Police
Fax: +51 1 225 1775
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
