(IPYS/IFEX) – On 19 January 2005, Julio Jara Ladrón de Guevara, editor-in-chief of the Cusco-based newspaper “El Comercio”, received a one-year suspended prison sentence. In addition to the suspended prison sentence, Judge Miguel Ángel Castelo Andía, of Cusco’s Third Criminal Court, also ordered Jara Ladrón de Guevara to pay 16,000 nuevos soles (approx. US$4,900) to […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 19 January 2005, Julio Jara Ladrón de Guevara, editor-in-chief of the Cusco-based newspaper “El Comercio”, received a one-year suspended prison sentence. In addition to the suspended prison sentence, Judge Miguel Ángel Castelo Andía, of Cusco’s Third Criminal Court, also ordered Jara Ladrón de Guevara to pay 16,000 nuevos soles (approx. US$4,900) to the state and 1,000 nuevos soles (approx. US$300) to the plaintiff, Rafael Córdova Paliza.
The judge ruled that the newspaper had defamed Córdova Paliza, a former Cusco regional government official, by publishing an article in which Córdova Paliza was accused of swindling a group of rural communities.
On 3 October 2003, the newspaper published an article containing statements by Congressman Manuel Figueroa Quintana, accusing Córdova Paliza of defrauding 42 peasant communities by pretending to be an advisor to President Alejandor Toledo. The congressman also claimed that Córdova Paliza misappropriated 60,000 nuevos soles (approx. US$18,400).
The newspaper did nothing more than report on the congressman’s allegations. Nevertheless, the judge ruled in favour of the plaintiff. In IPYS’s opinion, this constitutes an attack on the right to be information.
An appeal has been filed and a decision is expected from a higher court.
