(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Attorney General Javier Elichiguerra Naranjo, RSF protested the house arrest of Pablo Lopez Ulacio, editor of the weekly “La Razon”, and the order which prohibits him from publishing information about Multinational Insurance (Multinacional de Seguros), an insurance company which brought an action for defamation against the weekly. The organisation […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Attorney General Javier Elichiguerra Naranjo, RSF protested the house arrest of Pablo Lopez Ulacio, editor of the weekly “La Razon”, and the order which prohibits him from publishing information about Multinational Insurance (Multinacional de Seguros), an insurance company which brought an action for defamation against the weekly. The organisation asked the magistrate to use all the means at his disposal to annul these measures. RSF emphasised that it “disapproves of the repeated refusals by Pablo Lopez Ulacio to appear in court”. However, Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general, declared that “this behaviour does not justify under any circumstances the journalist’s house arrest.” Finally, RSF pointed out that the order which prohibits Lopez Ulacio from publishing articles about Multinational Insurance is a violation of Article 58 of the Constitution, which prohibits censorship.
According to information collected by RSF, on 8 July 2000, the judicial police apprehended Lopez Ulacio by order of Judge David Pérez Perera, in a hotel in the Campo Alegre district of Caracas. The journalist was brought to his home and put under house arrest. The judge’s decision was motivated by Lopez Ulacio’s repeated refusal to appear in court. The “La Razon” editor is accused of defaming the Multinational Insurance company. The weekly had published articles which denounced alleged irregularities in the company’s procurement of public contracts. On 22 June, Judge Pérez Perera prohibited Lopez Ulacio from continuing to publish articles about the company. Thus far, the editor has ignored the order, on the grounds that it violates Article 58 of the Constitution, which recognises the right of citizens to information “without censorship”.
Judge Pérez Perera’s position may be challenged, as on 10 July, the Tribunals Supervisory Office (Inspectoría de Tribunales) – the disciplinary body for the judiciary – ordered a precautionary suspension against the judge for “bias”. This administrative body has found various irregularities which “call into question the [judge’s] professional capacity and knowledge of jurisprudence”. Another body, the Commission for the Restructuring and Operation of the Judiciary (Comision de Reestructuracion y Funcionamiento del Poder Judicial), will decide on this matter after a hearing with Pérez Perera.
