(PFC/IFEX) – Journalists Alejandro Gutiérrez and Jesusa Cervantes, of “Proceso” magazine, are facing criminal defamation charges. On 8 April 2003, businessman Jesús Alonso Zaragoza López, president of the Grupo Z multinational company, filed a complaint against the two journalists with the Chihuahua Public Prosecutor’s Office. The businessman was reacting to an article by Gutiérrez and […]
(PFC/IFEX) – Journalists Alejandro Gutiérrez and Jesusa Cervantes, of “Proceso” magazine, are facing criminal defamation charges.
On 8 April 2003, businessman Jesús Alonso Zaragoza López, president of the Grupo Z multinational company, filed a complaint against the two journalists with the Chihuahua Public Prosecutor’s Office. The businessman was reacting to an article by Gutiérrez and Cervantes entitled, “Escándalo de ‘Amigos’: Ligan a empresario local” (“A scandal involving ‘friends’: local businessman is implicated”), which appeared in the Ciudad Juárez-based newspaper “El Diario” on 2 March. In the article, the journalists alleged that the businessman was involved in illicit activities and as a result encountered difficulty when attempting to cross the border into the United States. The journalists had based their information on statements by Eduardo Fernández, former president of the National Banking and Securities Commission (Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores), which were published by another media outlet. Zaragoza López denies the accusations.
In a letter to Chihuahua State Attorney General Jesús José Solís, PFC argued that the journalists should not be held responsible for the accusations against Zaragoza López since they were citing a third party. There is no evidence that Gutiérrez and Cervantes knowingly distributed false information or were intending to inflict harm, PFC noted.
PFC urged Zaragoza López to use his right of reply and publicly refute the accusations outlined in Gutiérrez’s and Cervantes’ article. The organisation lamented the fact that “in matters of public interest, crimes against an individual’s honour are still considered a criminal offence in Mexico. Such cases should instead be addressed by civil courts or via a reply mechanism that safeguards the rights of all parties, while at the same time ensuring that the public receives a balanced version of the story.”
For PFC’s letter to Attorney General Solís and additional information on the case, see:
http://portal-pfc.org/perseguidos/2003/068.html
