(IFJ/IFEX) – The Public Ministry shelved the investigation it was carrying out on journalists Jaime Meza Tello, director of the “Informacion al Día” news programme, which is transmitted by Radio Difusora Solar in Cerro de Pasco, and Luis Barba Ascanoa, director of the “El Reportero” programme on Radio Frecuencia 101 and correspondent for Radio Programas […]
(IFJ/IFEX) – The Public Ministry shelved the investigation it was carrying
out on journalists Jaime Meza Tello, director of the “Informacion al Día”
news programme, which is transmitted by Radio Difusora Solar in Cerro de
Pasco, and Luis Barba Ascanoa, director of the “El Reportero” programme on
Radio Frecuencia 101 and correspondent for Radio Programas del Perú. The two
journalists were being investigated on charges of terrorism and extortion.
**Updates IFEX alert of 8 April 1999**
According to the office of the ombudsman, on 20 April 1999, they were
informed over the telephone by Rivera, Barba’s lawyer, that the
Anti-terrorism Department in Cerro de Pasco had not found the radio
reporters guilty, nor had it been able to identify those who were
responsible for the acts of extortion and blackmail that the mayor of Pasco,
Oswaldo de la Cruz Vásquez, had been subjected to. The office of the
ombudsman had therefore decided to close the case.
According to the charges the Anti-terrorism Department had presented against
the journalists, it had held them responsible for having sent the mayor an
envelope with a grenade and a letter demanding payment of 9,000 soles
(approx. US$2,780).
