(IPYS/IFEX) – On 23 October 2003, nearly 20 soldiers of the Army Police in Campo Grande, western Brazil, assaulted photojournalists Adriano Hany, who works for the webpage Campo Grande News, and João Carlos Castro, of the newspaper “Folha do Povo”. The photojournalists were investigating the death of a soldier in the barracks. After having been […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 23 October 2003, nearly 20 soldiers of the Army Police in Campo Grande, western Brazil, assaulted photojournalists Adriano Hany, who works for the webpage Campo Grande News, and João Carlos Castro, of the newspaper “Folha do Povo”. The photojournalists were investigating the death of a soldier in the barracks. After having been denied access, they both climbed one of the walls and from there attempted to photograph the base. The soldiers surrounded them and beat them before letting them go.
According to the soldiers, Hany and Castro did not identify themselves and were invading the army’s privacy. A representative of the Army Police Fourteenth Company stated that the aggressors will be identified.
The photographers filed a complaint before Campo Grande’s First Civilian Police Station.
IPYS does not justify the inappropriate actions taken by the journalists to obtain information, but it does condemn the soldiers’ reaction, which, due to its intimidating nature, will discourage journalists from investigating topics related to the military.
This alert was prepared by IPYS with information provided by the Brazilian Investigative Journalism Association (Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo, ABRAJI).
