(RSF/IFEX) – According to RSF’s information, associate director of the oppostion daily “La Prensa” Gustavo Gorriti and reporter Rolando Rodriguez were charged on 20 January 1998 with “slander, insult, and falsehood” by Panama’s Attorney General Jose Antonio Sossa. In July 1996, the two journalists published an article revealing that Sossa had received a cheque for […]
(RSF/IFEX) – According to RSF’s information, associate director of the
oppostion daily “La Prensa” Gustavo Gorriti and reporter Rolando Rodriguez
were charged on 20 January 1998 with “slander, insult, and falsehood” by
Panama’s Attorney General Jose Antonio Sossa. In July 1996, the two
journalists published an article revealing that Sossa had received a cheque
for $US 5,000 from a Colombian drug trafficker as a donation to his
campaign for re-election to the Attorney General’s post. Following the
complaint lodged by Sossa, Goritti and Rodriguez have refused to reveal the
source of their information, as permitted by the law which protects
journalists’ sources. The date of the trial has not yet been set, but the
first hearings should take place in the next few weeks.
**For background, see IFEX alerts of 16 October, 22 September and 7 August
1997**
Background Information
On 4 August 1997, in apparent response to Gorriti’s investigative reporting,
the Panamanian government denied Gorriti a work visa and ordered him to
leave the country by the end of the month. Facing intense international
pressure, the government reversed that decision. Gorriti had taken the job
at “La Prensa” in 1996 after being forced to leave his native Peru because
of his
critical reporting about government involvement in human rights abuses (see
IFEX alerts.)
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
Rodriguez consitute a grave threat to freedom of the press
journalistic sources
Appeals To
Ernesto Perez Balladares
President of the Republic
Panama, PanamaSend appeals via the Ambassador of Panama
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
