(FLIP/IFEX) – The following is a 27 November 2006 open letter from FLIP and others to the Colombian authorities: Álvaro Uribe Vélez President Mario Iguarán Arana Prosecutor General Vólmar Perez Ombudsman Bogotá Respected President, Prosecutor General and Ombudsman: On 19 November 2006, Cartagena-based journalist Fredy Muñoz Altamiranda – Colombian correspondent for Telesur television network – […]
(FLIP/IFEX) – The following is a 27 November 2006 open letter from FLIP and others to the Colombian authorities:
Álvaro Uribe Vélez
President
Mario Iguarán Arana
Prosecutor General
Vólmar Perez
Ombudsman
Bogotá
Respected President, Prosecutor General and Ombudsman:
On 19 November 2006, Cartagena-based journalist Fredy Muñoz Altamiranda – Colombian correspondent for Telesur television network – was detained at Bogotá’s Eldorado Airport when he returned from professional training in Caracas. According to press reports, Muñoz is being investigated for the alleged commission of the crime of rebellion, based on allegations made by demobilised members of the Revolutionary Armed Forced of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group, reinserted into civilian life.
Many of us know Fredy personally. In our opinion, and in the estimation of other colleagues and his employers, he is a decent man and an honest, independent and critical journalist. His daily life and professional practices have been very distinct from that of people who might attempt to achieve their ideological objectives through terrorism.
Also, although we respect and support the authorities and the Colombian justice system, we also are familiar with their weaknesses. We are concerned by previous situations, like that of sociologist and agronomist Alfredo Correa de Andreis, who, after being subjected to legal proceedings in which, according to the Ombudsman, fabricated evidence and testimony were used, was released only to be murdered in downtown Barranquilla in an act that still upsets and shames us as Colombians. We are perturbed to think that due to his ideas and professional behaviour, Fredy may suffer the same fate as Correa and other citizens who, as journalists, academics or members of civil society organizations, have been the victims of unfair accusations as a consequence of their human rights activism or their ideological positions.
As well, we share the intense concern that various international freedom of expression organizations have expressed, which consider that this incident may be a way of attacking Telesur’s journalistic work in our country. Given that this case involves a colleague working for an international media outlet, his case has had very significant repercussions.
For all of the above reasons, we are respectfully asking for your prompt intervention to fully ensure respect for all of Muñoz’s rights, including the right to due process, so that his legal situation is clarified rapidly and so that he soon recovers the full range of human rights, especially the right to freedom, if such an outcome is legal and fair, as we expect it is.
We also expect that, given the particularities of the case, the Prosecutor General’s office (Fiscalía) and the government will facilitate access by journalists to all the appropriate sources of information so that the proceedings can be covered in a complete and accurate manner.
We thank you for your attention to our request, which we, a group of journalists and representatives of national and international professional organizations, are signing on 27 November 2006.
We welcome responses and notification of developments at the following address: Fundación Protransparencia Atlántico, Calle 40 No. 44-39, Edificio Cámara de Comercio de Barranquilla, Barranquilla.
Jaime Abello Banfi
Director of the Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI)
Eduardo Marquez
Director of the Centro de Solidaridad (Ceso) of the Internacional Federation of Journalists (IFJ) en Colombia
Carlos Cortés Castllo
Director of the Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP)
Melitza Quintero Suarez
President of the Círculo de Periodistas de Valledupar
Humberto Jose Coronel Noguera
Correspondent in Colombia for the Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (Ipys), Perú
Pablo Emilio Buitrago Rugeles
Colombian Federation of Journalists (Federación Colombiana de Periodistas)
(For the names of the 33 other individual journalists who have also signed this letter so far, contact FLIP.)
