IPYS/IFEX) – On 19 November 1999, Guillermo Gonzales Arica, journalist with “Caretas” magazine and member of the journalists’ association Prensa Libre, was summonsed to the headquarters of the Public Ministry’s provincial offices by the Policing Division of the Public Ministry to present himself. The request was made by the Provincial Attorney’s Office on Taxation and […]
IPYS/IFEX) – On 19 November 1999, Guillermo Gonzales Arica, journalist with
“Caretas” magazine and member of the journalists’ association Prensa Libre,
was summonsed to the headquarters of the Public Ministry’s provincial
offices by the Policing Division of the Public Ministry to present himself.
The request was made by the Provincial Attorney’s Office on Taxation and
Customs Crimes (FPDTA), with intent to “clarify the charge, lodged by the
State, that documents were falsified.” The subpoena was filed and approved
by Peruvian National Police Colonel Emerson Inguza Ramos.
Gonzales Arica stated that the subpoena had no purpose other than to
question him with regards to the legal action taken by the Supreme Court of
Military Justice against members of Prensa Libre. The action was launched
after Prensa Libre, in a press conference which took place at the Congress
of the Republic, denounced a campaign by the army’s Intelligence Service
(SIE) to follow, harass and badger Luis Castañeda Lossio and Alberto
Andrade, presidential candidates for the Solidaridad Nacional and Somos Perú
parties, respectively.
Gonzales Arica, and all the members of Prensa Libre, questioned the order.
Meanwhile, on 26 October, the Attorney General’s Office sent a document
which claimed that the actions of Prensa Libre were within the legitimate
limits of freedom of expression, and that all the facts which were analysed
led to the conclusion that the investigation was being lead with due
diligence.
On 20 November, Prensa Libre submitted a plea to the Interamerican
Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), which meets in the offices of the San
Jose Tribunal in Costa Rica, for cautionary measures to protect Gonzales
Arica’s safety, personal liberty and due process. The plea was accepted by
CIDH in a meeting which took place on Sunday 21 November, and cautionary
measures are being implemented to stop the hostility against the journalist
and other members of Prensa Libre.
On 22 November, Gonzales Arica attended the summons, accompanied by six
members of congress and his lawyer, Beatriz Mejía. Due to the lack of
guarantees that an adequate investigation into the denunciation of Prensa
Libre would take place, he refused to respond to the police’s questions
about the case. Gonzales Arica cited Article 14 of the United Nations
Charter on Civic and Political Rights and Article 55 of the Peruvian
Political Constitution when he refused to speak. He did not want any
information he gave to be used as proof of guilt.
“This is a false investigation of criminal offences against suffrage rights
which they are committing against the presidential candidates and the
Peruvian people. They want to coerce the press, impede them from continuing
their investigation and from informing the population about these illicit
acts,” stated Gonzales Arica after going to the Policing Division of the
Public Ministry, where he responded to standard legal questions about his
circumstances before adjunct attorney Karina Chávez, and exercised his right
to maintain professional secrecy to guard his sources of information. He
also brought with him the report issued by the Ombudsman’s Office, the
defense presented to the judicial powers and the cautionary measures
requested by the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
Appeals To
Alberto Fujimori Fujimori
President of the Republic
Fax: +51 1 427 6722 / 426 6535Alberto Bustamante Belaunde
President of the Council of Ministers
Fax: +51 1 447 1628 / 475 0689Edgardo Mosqueira Medina
Minister of the Presidency
Fax: +51 222 3678Martha Hildebrandt Pérez
President of the Congress of the Republic
Fax: +51 1 426 8290Miguel Aljovín Swayne
Attorney General
Fax: +51 1 426 2474Víctor Raúl Castillo Castillo
President of the Supreme Court of Justice
Fax: +51 1 428 0803Jorge Santistevan de Noriega
Ombudsman
Fax: +51 1 426 6657
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
