(PFC/IFEX) – On 17 October 2003, Aldo Zuccolillo, director of “ABC Color” newspaper, was sentenced for “defamation”. Judge Dionisio Nicolás Frutos ordered Zuccolillo to pay US$15,322 to the state and US$12,290 to the plaintiff, former state reform minister Juan Ernesto Villamayor. The case is based on articles published in the newspaper on 4 and 5 […]
(PFC/IFEX) – On 17 October 2003, Aldo Zuccolillo, director of “ABC Color” newspaper, was sentenced for “defamation”. Judge Dionisio Nicolás Frutos ordered Zuccolillo to pay US$15,322 to the state and US$12,290 to the plaintiff, former state reform minister Juan Ernesto Villamayor. The case is based on articles published in the newspaper on 4 and 5 March 1999, which suggested that Villamayor was involved in fraudulent activities at the National Workers’ Bank (Banco Nacional de Trabajadores).
In his ruling, Judge Frutos failed to take into account a provision in the Penal Code regarding defamation crimes. Article 151 stipulates that an individual cannot be punished for distributing information that is in the public [or private] interest and has been duly investigated. In the Zuccolillo case, the newspaper articles in question contributed to the launching of legal action against individuals implicated in the National Workers’ Bank fraud. Despite this, Judge Frutos chose to impose a “special compensation sentence” upon Zuccolillo, a sentence that is applied in cases where “payment by the author of a set amount of money will serve to re-establish social harmony.”
Since 1998, Zuccolillo has faced some 20 lawsuits for defamation and libel, most of which have been brought against him by government officials and political leaders. The plaintiffs have included Senator Juan Carlos Galaverna, Alto Paraná Department Governor Jotvino Urunaga, former National Workers’ Bank president Edgar Cataldi, politician Oscar González, businessman Ahmad Khalil Chams and lawyers Julio Garay, Adolfo Gigglberger, Agustín Morínigo, Marta Barsilicia Barrios, Antonio Mieres and Wu Wen Huan.
According to the organisation International Transparency (Transparencia Internacional), indicators show that Paraguay has the highest corruption level in Latin America and, out of 133 countries evaluated in 2003, Paraguay is among the five worst in the world. In a letter to Supreme Court Chair Bonifacio Ríos Ávalos, PFC expressed its concern over the sentencing of Zuccolillo, and over the filing of complaints against journalists in general.
For further information on the case see: http://portal-pfc.org/perseguidos/2003/138.html
