(IPYS/IFEX) – A group of journalists, led by member of Congress Anel Townsend and made up of Fernando Viaña, Luis Iberico, Iván García, Monica Vecco, Rosana Cueva, Enrique Zileri, César Hildebrandt, among others, brought a complaint before the Ombudsman regarding the detention of Julio Sotelo Casanova, Baruch Ivcher’s counsel and the former manager of Frecuencia […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – A group of journalists, led by member of Congress Anel
Townsend and made up of Fernando Viaña, Luis Iberico, Iván García, Monica
Vecco, Rosana Cueva, Enrique Zileri, César Hildebrandt, among others,
brought a complaint before the Ombudsman regarding the detention of Julio
Sotelo Casanova, Baruch Ivcher’s counsel and the former manager of
Frecuencia Latina – Canal 2.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 25 June, 21 June, 16 June, 26 May, 9 April, 22
March and 9 March 1999**
During the meeting, Ombudsman Jorge Santistevan de Noriega promised to visit
Sotelo at San Jorge prison to check on his state of health and to look into
whether or not there have been judicial errors in his trial. Sotelo was
sentenced to four years in prison for having given shares in Canal 2 to
Ivcher’s daughters.
Member of Congress Townsend explained the basis of the complaint, noting
that “we are requesting the intervention of the Ombudsman in Sotelo’s case,
because he has been accused only by virtue of being Baruch Ivcher’s legal
counsel with the job of guaranteeing a transfer of shares from him to his
daughters, which is an inheritance and completely legal. He complied with an
administrative task for the company, stemming from which they have
manufactured a trial to arbitrarily and inexplicably detain him.”
The group also made complaints to the Inter American Press Society (IAPA),
the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Inter American Commission on
Human Rights. “This matter is neither managerial nor commercial, it has to
do with freedom of expression. Julio Sotelo has been the victim of guilt by
association which has formed around Baruch Ivcher”, said Townsend.
It is expected that within the next two weeks the Corporate Chamber of the
Taxation and Customs Offences Court will review the sentence that Judge
Nicolás Trujillo Lopez imposed on Sotelo. On 22 June 1999, the press
highlighted statements made by President Fujimori, who stated that he did
not understand the legal decision, since applicable rules indicate that this
offence would not carry a prison sentence.
