(FLIP/IFEX) – On 8 February 2003, photojournalist Herminso Ruiz, of the weekly “El Espectador”, was beaten by Metropolitan Police officers while covering the bomb attack on the El Nogal club, in northern Bogotá. According to the latest official figures, the attack left 33 people dead and 157 wounded. The photographer arrived at the scene in […]
(FLIP/IFEX) – On 8 February 2003, photojournalist Herminso Ruiz, of the weekly “El Espectador”, was beaten by Metropolitan Police officers while covering the bomb attack on the El Nogal club, in northern Bogotá. According to the latest official figures, the attack left 33 people dead and 157 wounded.
The photographer arrived at the scene in a taxi minutes after the explosion. Security forces had not yet sealed off the area, so Ruiz was able to photograph the wounded and vehicles burned by the blast. As he was working, a police officer told him to leave and attempted to push him away. A number of officers then forcibly picked him up and carried him a block away from the site.
According to the journalist, the officers threw him to the ground and he suffered injuries to his face, leg and abdomen. His camera was lost in the scuffle.
A number of journalists contacted by FLIP corroborated Ruiz’s story. Hugo Montero, of Caracol television station, saw “men dressed in green” grab Ruiz while he shouted that he was a member of the press. Oscar Pérez, a Colprensa photographer, said that “they took Ruiz away, and when he came back he did not have his camera and was injured in the face and leg.”
Several photographers who covered the terrorist act agreed that the police aggressively tried to remove them from the scene. Television journalists, however, were able to carry out their duties without serious difficulties.
Metropolitan Police press officer Sergeant Cantillo stated that although he was aware of the facts surrounding the incident, the police were waiting for the journalist or his newspaper to lodge a formal complaint before initiating a disciplinary investigation. If personal injury were confirmed, the case would be taken to military court and could lead to the suspension or firing of the officers involved.
“As reporters,” said “El Espectador” journalist Carlos Espejo, “we are obliged to cover events. We understand that a victim in pain might push us away, and that certain levels of security exist, but the police have no reason to remove us or treat us in that way.”
FLIP condemned the attack on the “El Espectador” photojournalist and the police’s treatment of the photographers who were reporting on the event. FLIP noted that when the emergency forces need to enforce security measures very strictly, as was the case on 8 February, it must be born in mind that the journalists’ role is to gather information and it is the authorities’ duty to facilitate their work.
