2019-2017

29.10.2019. Getting Away with Murder (CPJ)

Somalia is the world’s worst country for the fifth year in a row when it comes to prosecuting murderers of journalists, CPJ’s 2019 Global Impunity Index found. War and political instability have fostered a deadly cycle of violence and impunity, along with inaction by states worldwide.



The 13 countries that make up the list of the world’s worst impunity offenders represent a mix of conflict-ridden regions and more stable countries where criminal groups, politicians, government officials, and other powerful actors resort to violence to silence critical and investigative reporting. Unchecked corruption, ineffective institutions, and lack of political will to pursue robust investigations are all factors behind impunity, CPJ has found.

The Philippines has been among the worst five countries nearly every year since the index was first published in 2008. The country’s fifth-worst ranking is due in part to the deadly ambush of 58 individuals, including 32 journalists and media workers, in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, on November 23, 2009. The trial of over 100 suspects behind the massacre is due to conclude this year, but as of August 31, 2019—the final date CPJ counted convictions for this year’s index—no verdict had been announced. Ampatuan clan patriarch and former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., whom prosecutors said was the mastermind behind the attack, died in detention in July 2015, reports said.

In the past decade, armed militant groups such as Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram and the Islamic State group have most often targeted journalists with complete impunity. However, criminal groups have become a major threat, killing large numbers of journalists and routinely escaping justice. Mexico, to date this year’s deadliest country for journalists, has seen its impunity rating worsen nearly every year since 2008, as criminal cartels waged a campaign of terror against the media. Of at least 31 murders of journalists that took place in Mexico during the index period, authorities have secured only one conviction.

During the 10-year index period ending August 31, 2019, 318 journalists were murdered for their work worldwide and in 86% of those cases no perpetrators have been successfully prosecuted. Last year, CPJ recorded complete impunity in 85% of cases. Historically, this number has been closer to 90%; the past two years reflect a small improvement.The 13 countries on the index account for more than three quarters (222) of the global total of unsolved murders of journalists for the index period. All 13 have featured multiple times since CPJ first compiled the index in 2008, and seven have appeared every year.

While these countries show the most entrenched patterns of violence and impunity, it has become clear over time that even one murder of a journalist can have a chilling effect and that when the perpetrators escape justice, the intimidation is amplified. When Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was ambushed and murdered in the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in October 2018, critics of Saudi Arabia worldwide received the message that there is no safe harbor.

In recent years, unchecked anti-press violence has spread to places previously considered relatively safe for the media. The October 2017 car bombing that killed blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta, followed by the murder of Slovakian journalist Ján Kuciak in February 2018, put journalists in the EU on notice that covering crime and corruption can be deadly. Slovakia indicted four people, including the suspected mastermind, earlier this month. However, authorities there and in Malta have failed to achieve convictions in either case.

Colombia is the only country to fall off the index since last year. In December, President Iván Duque announced that the leader of a drug trafficking group accused of murdering two journalists and their driver was killed in a joint police and military operation near the border with Ecuador.

28.10.2019. Kyrgyzstan. The importance of persistence: Challenging impunity and the murder of Alisher Saipov (IFEX)

The investigation into the 2007 murder in Kyrgyzstan of journalist Alisher Saipov was suspended, apparently indefinitely, in 2013. However, the recent reopening of the inquiry - following pressure from IFEX members - offers a glimmer of hope to the journalist’s family.

Osh is Kyrgyzstan’s oldest city. Lying just 5km from the porous border with Uzbekistan, it is often referred to as “the capital of the south”. This was where Alisher Saipov worked. He was a young, highly-regarded, ethnic Uzbek journalist with a passion for social justice.

On the evening of 24 October 2007, police in Osh were contacted by an unidentified individual who told them that Saipov was lying dead by the side of the road on Masaliev Street; he had been shot once in the leg and twice in the head. His killer had used a silencer and the murder is widely considered to have been a contract killing.

From the moment Saipov was killed, the authorities took a stop-start approach to the investigation, which was suspended – seemingly indefinitely – in 2013. Numerous rights groups, including IFEX members ARTICLE 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, PEN International and Reporters Without Borders maintained public pressure on the Kyrgyz authorities, urging them to bring Saipov’s killer – and those who ordered the killing – to justice.

After the 2013 suspension, there were few noteworthy developments in the case until October 2019, when Kyrgyzstan’s Prosecutor General responded to a letter sent by IFEX to President Sooronbay Zheenbekov the previous July, asking about the status of the investigation. The Prosecutor announced that the inquiry into Saipov’s murder had been reopened in August (although Saipov’s relatives had not been informed of this at the time).

IFEX’s Kyrgyz members – Media Policy Institute and Public Association “Journalists” – welcomed the news.

“We welcome the fact that Kyrgyz law enforcement authorities have resumed the investigation into the murder of Alisher Saipov,” said Media Policy Institute. “Twelve years have passed since the journalist’s death; we hope that the authorities will provide detailed information on the progress of the investigation to the Kyrgyz public and the international community. It is important for us that the state demonstrates its commitment to fight crimes against journalists.”

Background to the murder

When he was murdered, Saipov, 26, was a well-known figure in Osh’s journalistic community. He covered political and social issues on both sides of the border with Uzbekistan and was founder and editor of the newspaper Siyosat (Politics). He also regularly contributed to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Voice of America, and the regional news site Ferghana. One of Saipov’s biggest stories came in 2005, when he reported on the aftermath of the brutal massacre of hundreds of protesters in Andijan, Uzbekistan, by Uzbek troops.

Saipov not only wrote about the Uzbek refugees who fled across the border to Kyrgyzstan following this mass killing, he also helped many of them settle in the country. This was risky work: Uzbek agents who crossed the border in order to harass the refugees also targeted the NGO workers and journalists – like Saipov – who were trying to help them.

Before he was murdered, Uzbek state media ran a smear campaign accusing Saipov of trying to destabilize Uzbekistan through his reporting. During the same period, he received frequent, anonymous threats warning him to stop his journalistic work.

But he continued.

When news of Saipov’s murder was announced, it provoked international outrage: the US, UK and EU embassies in Bishkek called for an independent, thorough investigation. Kyrgyzstan’s then president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, said that he would take personal responsibility for the investigation into the killing. Most informed fingers pointed to the Uzbek security service as the most likely party to have ordered – and carried out – the murder. Kyrgyzstan’s human rights ombudsman thought so too, and said so, publicly.

But the police investigators ended up going in another direction.

The investigation

When the police arrived at the scene on the night of the murder, they recovered three shells from the cartridges of a 9 mm PM pistol. A month later, on 24 November, a criminal investigation was opened; it was suspended two months later (this would be the first of a number of suspensions). It wasn’t until 2009 that the investigation seemed to be making serious progress.

On the night of 24 February 2009, in a completely unrelated case, police detained Abdufarid Rasulov in the Leilek district of the Batken region. In his car they found 17 grams of hashish and a 9mm PM pistol. He was placed in pre-trial detention in Osh and, three months later, experts matched the shells recovered at the scene of Saipov’s murder to Rasulov’s pistol.

Rasulov was tried for murder and was convicted in the spring of 2010; he was sentenced to serve 20 years in jail. Rasulov appealed, but the Supreme Court upheld the verdict in November 2010. Justice seemed to have been served, if only partially: whoever ordered the killing had not been identified.

However, a twist in the story came in 2012: Rasulov’s family presented the police with a video cassette showing that on the day of Saipov’s murder, Rasulov had been on holiday with his relatives. The Supreme Court ordered a review of the conviction and Rasulov was released in April that year.

The investigation into Saipov’s murder continued into the following year, but was suspended in December 2013.

The family’s response

The effect of all this on Saipov’s family has been devastating. In 2018, in a moving article published on the eleventh anniversary of his brother’s death, Shorukh Saipov (who decided to become a journalist after the authorities failed to find his brother’s killer) described how his family had suffered in the years following the murder – and also the disappointment they felt when they began to believe that the case would never be resolved.

Shorukh Saipov shared his thoughts with IFEX in October 2019, after the investigation was reopened. Welcoming the news, he said that his family expected President Zheenbekov to make a serious assessment of the murder case (as previous presidents had failed to do). Shorukh maintained that his brother was killed because of his work and he was keen to indicate where the reopened investigation should direct its focus:

“We understand that the killer who shot my brother cannot be detained; it’s obvious that he was fulfilling someone’s order, and it is quite possible that he is no longer alive. We want, as part of the investigation, the only witness to the murder – political scientist Ikbol Mirsaitov,  who was next to Alisher [when he was killed] – to be questioned. He is hiding from our family.  For 12 years Mirsaitov has avoided us: he doesn’t even want to tell us – Alisher’s family – what happened that evening. All my efforts to meet him have been in vain. Mirsaitov only appeared in court in 2010, and even then for only fifteen minutes. To all the lawyers’ and investigators’ questions, he limited himself to one answer: ‘I don’t remember.’ We consider Alisher to be a victim of the previous regime in Uzbekistan, led by Islam Karimov. It was a contract killing: my brother received warnings and threats from the Uzbek special services several times up until his death. My brother dreamed of real democracy in Central Asia, [where] there was no pressure on religious people, [where] people could express their opinions without fear”.

21.10.2019. Slovakia indicts alleged mastermind behind journalist’s murder (IPI)

The International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists for press freedom, today welcomed the bringing of official charges against four suspects, including the alleged mastermind, in the February 2018 murder of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová.

The Slovak Special Prosecutor’s Office said today it filed an indictment against Alena Zsuzsová, Tomáš Szabó and Miroslav Marček as well as Marian Kočner, the controversial businessman accused of ordering the murder. They face up to 25 years in prison or a life sentence. A fifth suspect, Zoltán Andruskó, has reached a plea deal with prosecutors to serve as a witness and his case is behind handled separately. All five are currently in custody.

According to Slovak media, today’s step indicates that the authorities have completed their investigation and are confident of a conviction.

“The filing of official charges is a welcome step toward achieving justice for Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová and reinforces trust in the will of police and prosecutors to secure that aim”, IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen said. “But there is still a long way to go. The only acceptable outcome if for all those responsible for this crime according to the evidence are convicted and jailed.”

Globally, at least 28 reporters were killed in targeted attacks in 2018, according to IPI research. It is exceedingly rare for the killers of journalists, and especially the masterminds, to be brought to justice.

Kuciak, whose work for the online news site Aktuality.sk uncovered allegations of tax fraud and financial crime implicating prominent business and political leaders in Slovakia, and Kušnírová were killed in their home on February 21, 2018. The double murder sparked the largest protests in Slovakia since the Velvet Revolution.

“Filing the indictment against Marian Kočner, Alena Zsuzsová, Tomáš Szabi, Miroslav Marček and Zoltán Andruskó is a logical continuation of a case that still hurts us all”, Peter Bárdy, the editor of Aktuality.sk and an IPI member, said. “The Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Court are in charge. The police investigation team of Peter Juhas did a good job. He has my absolute confidence and gratitude. Justice must prevail, although we all know that our loved ones will never return it to us.”

IPI has closely monitored progress in the murder investigation, visiting Bratislava more than a dozen times over the past year to press authorities for justice. Last October, IPI Executive Board Chair Markus Spillmann led an IPI delegation to meet with then-Slovak President Andrej Kiska. On International Day to End Impunity, November 2, IPI’s 24-member global Executive Board carried out a solidarity visit to the memorial for Kuciak and Kušnírová in Bratislava. In February, IPI and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) met with the Special Prosecutor’s Office and the Slovak interior ministry to push for progress at the one-year anniversary of the murder.

07.10.2019. RUSSIA. Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was murdered 13 years ago. Russian authorities failed to look properly into who commissioned the crime (EFJ).

On 7 October 2006 Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a reporter for the Novaya Gazeta, newspaper and a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead at her apartment building in central Moscow. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) join their affiliate the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) in commemorating the death of the veteran journalist and calling on the Russian government to renew its efforts to identify those who ordered the journalists’ murder. 

The journalist and human rights activist’s body was found by a neighbour in the elevator, where she had been shot 4 times.

The murder of Anna Politkovskaya, aged 48 and mother of 2, shocked the international community. Death threats were a constant feature of her life due to her critical reports of the Second Chechen War, uncovering the abuses committed by Russian military forces and Chechen rebels, as well as her critical investigative coverage of corruption and politics.

During her career she was threatened several times, jailed by the Russian authorities and even survived a poisoning attempt during a flight to the North Ossetian town of Beslan to cover the horrific school siege in September 2004. Politkovskaya had plenty of enemies who might have wished her death, but ten years after the murder, the Russian authorities still haven’t been able to answer who ordered the crime.

After almost 8 years and 2 trials, on June 2014 three Chechen brothers, their uncle and a former police officer were sentenced to prison by a Moscow court. However the basic question of who ordered her murder remains unsolved. 

“Remembering Anna, we remember at the same time all deceased Russian journalists killed, disappeared or died in unclear situations” said the International Secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) Nadezda Azhgikhina and Vice President of the EFJ. “We have more than 350 names in our memorial list since 1990”.

The RUJ will commemorate the 10th anniversary of Politkovskaya’s murder with a memorial event in her honour at the Moscow Journalist Club, where young artists will interpret texts of the Politkovskaya as well as those of Yury Shchekochikhin, another Russian investigative journalist who died suddenly from a mysterious illness in 2003. “The purpose of the activities is to immortalise the free word and journalistic courage,” said Nadezda Azhgikhina. The play will be followed by an open debate.

EFJ President Mogens Blicher Bjerregård remembers his meeting with the journalist:¨”I had the pleasure to meet Anna Politkovskaja in Copenhagen a few month before she was murdered. She was such a dedicated and decent journalist, and from the very beginning of our conversation, I knew that she was someone special – a journalist you will only meet once or a few times in your lifetime. I remember, we had a discussion about safety as I feared for her life. Every year the 7th October reminds me how important it is to safeguard journalists as we need the truth to be told and we need journalists as Anna Politkovskaja.”

IFJ President Philippe Leruth said: “On 7 October, we will commemorate with sadness the loss of a great journalist. Russia is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists and the tragic case of Anna Politkovskaya is one more illustration of the impunity that protects those who attack and kill journalists or those who mastermind those killings. This unacceptable situation must end. Journalists must be allowed to work freely without fear in Russia. The public’s right to know depends on a free press”.

All the partner organisations of the Council of Europe’s Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists decided to jointly submit a new alert under the ‘impunity’ category in relation to the murder of the Russian journalist. The organisations call on the government of the Russian Federation to ensure that those who ordered it are brought to justice through an open and transparent judicial process. Solving the Politkovskaya case is crucial to restoring faith in the Russian judicial system and the rule of law.

25.09.2019. UKRAINE. Zelensky offers Italy’s Premier to create team for investigation of Roccheli death

(President's press service)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky offered Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to create the joint investigation group to figure out the circumstances of the death of Italian photo correspondent Andrea Rocchelli in the east of Ukraine as the President’s Office reported.

“The issue of Vitaliy Markiv, Ukrainian citizen convicted in Italy, was raised. The Head of the sate noted that he expects a comprehensive and objective investigation of the case. He also offered to establish a joint investigation group to figure out the circumstances of the death of Italian journalist Andrea Rocchelli,” the message said.

As we reported, Serviceman of the National Guard of Ukraine Vitaliy Markiv was sentenced to 24 years in jail in Italy.

Vitaliy Markiv was detained in summer 2017 in the city of Bologna. Suspicion to him was put forward by the Pavia Prosecutor's Office. Currently, the fighter is in prison. Deputy platoon commander Markiv, who served in the operational battalion of Kulchytsky, is suspected of involvement in the deaths of photo reporter Andrea Rocchelli and Russian journalist Andrey Mironov, who were killed in May 2014 near Sloviansk (Donetsk region). French reporter William Roguelon was also wounded that day. In the area of the village Andriivka group of foreign journalists fell under mortar fire.

After it became known about the detention of Markiv, Ukraine’s Prosecution General said that it was truly surprised by the arrest of the soldier. Ukrainian law enforcers are investigating criminal proceedings on the death of foreign journalists, and according to investigators, the deaths of two journalists were the result of shelling by Russian-terrorist forces. The Office also appealed to the Italian authorities to provide evidence of Markiv's guilt or his immediate release.

Markiv came to Italy to visit his mother on vacation and was detained. There are reports that 14 Italian law enforcers took part in his arrest.

Due to the sentence of Markiv, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky charged the Foreign Ministry and Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine to take steps to return Ukrainian soldier Vitaliy Markiv.

22.09.2019. MALTA. Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry finally set up (Times of Malta)

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has appointed Judge Emeritus Michael Mallia to preside over a public independent inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The commission will be also composed of former Dean of the Faculty of Law, constitutional expert Ian Refalo and forensic expert Anthony Abela Medici.

The government said the Prime Minister has requested that the inquiry be concluded within nine months and published as directed by the same commission. The commission will regulate its own procedure.

The statement was issued on Friday evening, just minutes before Opposition leader Adrian Delia addresses a mass meeting.

In a report on the state of the rule of law in Malta published in June, the Council of Europe called on the government to set up a public inquiry aimed at establishing whether the journalist’s death could have been prevented.

The council’s imposed three-month deadline for the inquiry to begin would have expired on Thursday.

The government said on Friday the decision reflected the government's “consistent position that there exists no difficulty in establishing a public inquiry once it is assured that such inquiry does not undermine investigations and/or criminal proceedings which are pending in this case”.

It pointed out that, within 50 days of the murder, three persons were charged with the journalist’s murder in court and have now been placed under a bill of indictment.
 
The government said that in light of the resolution approved by Parliament on December 12, 2018, and the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on June 26, 2019, the government engaged in technical discussions with Council of Europe officials to ensure that the inquiry would not endanger the integrity of investigations and/or criminal proceedings already underway.
 
“Government had, and still has, serious reservations on the methodology used and the conclusions listed in the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

“Yet, government has full respect towards the Council of Europe, and the work carried out over the past weeks is testament to the reciprocal respect between Malta and this important institution,” it said.

What are the terms of reference?

The inquiry has to investigate and report to the Prime Ministeron the death of Ms. Caruana Galizia and on the events preceding, concomitant with, and following upon, the death with a view: 

• to determining whether any wrongful action or omission by or within any State entity facilitated the death or failed to prevent it and in particular whether any State entity knew or ought to have known of a real and immediate risk to Ms Caruana Galizia’s life at the time from the criminal acts of a third party and failed to take measures within the scope of its powers which, judged reasonably, it might have been expected to take in order to avoid that risk; 

• to establishing whether the State had and has in place effective criminal law provisions and other practical means to avoid the development of a de facto state of impunity through the frequent occurrence of unresolved criminal acts and to deter the commission of serious criminal offences, backed up by law enforcement machinery for the prevention, suppression, investigation and punishment of serious breaches of the law; 

• to determining whether the State has fulfilled and is fulfilling its positive obligation to take preventive operational measures to protect individuals whose lives are at risk from criminal acts in particular in the case of journalists; 

• to conducting the inquiry in such a way as not to impede or compromise any criminal investigation or prosecution or its integrity; 

• The Inquiry shall be held in public but the Board of Inquiry may, where it considers necessary, conduct particular hearings in camera in such a way as to protect the confidentiality of investigations and of information received in confidence both when the confidentiality of those investigations or information is protected by law and when the Board of Inquiry considers that in camera hearings are otherwise justified; 

• The Board of Inquiry shall have access to all information held by State entities and it shall act in accordance with the Inquiries Act and shall, subject to these terms of reference, regulate its own procedure on all matters including the question of access by the family of the deceased and by the public to the proceedings and acts of the inquiry.

• The Board of Inquiry shall endeavour to conclude its work within a time frame of nine months without prejudice to the proper fulfilment of these terms of reference.

Who will be carrying out the inquiry?

Michael Mallia served as a Judge of the Superior Courts from the 29th of September 2009 until his retirement on the 30th March 2015. During this time he served in the Courts of Criminal Jurisdiction and also presided over various trials by jury.

This appointment followed a vast experience of 23 years as Magistrate of Inferior Courts, where he also served as a Senior Magistrate. 

Well-known for his integrity, in 2004 Dr Mallia was nominated as President of the Tribunal for the Investigation of Injustices, a post he held until December 2005, when all pending cases before the Tribunal were dealt with. 

He is currently the Chairperson of the Judicial Studies Committee.

Ian Refalo is a Full Professor of Public Law and Dean Emeritus of the Faculty of Laws at the University of Malta and occupies the post of Ad Personam Jean Monnet Professor at the University of Malta. 

He is widely recognised as a leading authority in administrative and public law and has practiced at the bar for over 40 years. His experience ranges across the entire spectrum of Human Rights, civil, commercial and administrative law, acting as lead counsel in landmark cases. 

He also acted as counsel before the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice. 
 
Anthony Abela Medici has served as Director of the Forensic Science Laboratory at the Malta Police Department between 1981 and 2010.

He was, and still is, appointed by the Courts of Law in Malta as a Forensic Expert in various fields of study. 

He is a former member of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment which is a committee of experts of the Council of Europe and also serves as a member of the European Regional Steering Committee for the Royal Society of Chemistry. 

Dr Abela Medici is currently also the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations.

Victim's heirs request meeting

Daphne Caruana Galizia’s heirs on Friday night requested a meeting on the composition of the board of inquiry.

"A public inquiry chaired by a respected former judge is what all right-minded people have been calling for since our mother’s and wife's assassination," a statement from the family said.

Given the gravity of its purpose and its mandate to investigate state institutions, justice demands that the board's wider members have no financial or political links to the current political administration.

"The board will be unfit for purpose if the public has reason to doubt any of its wider members’ independence or impartiality. We ask to meet with the Prime Minister without delay to discuss our concerns in that regard."

04.09.2019. MEXICO. Las pistas del asesinato de Miroslava Breach que no fueron investigadas (El Pais)

El Colectivo 23 de marzo, un grupo de periodistas que trabaja en México, junto a Forbidden Stories, Bellingcat y el Centro Latinoamericano de Periodismo de Investigación (CLIP) se unen en 'Proyecto Miroslava' para desvelar qué se ha investigado y qué no sobre el asesinato de la informadora en 2017

Los últimos 10 años, al menos 82 periodistas mexicanos han sido asesinados en México por motivos relacionados con su profesión. Esto ha convertido a México en uno de los países más peligrosos del mundo para ser periodista. Víctima de esta violencia fue Miroslava Breach, una periodista de investigación que denunciaba a grupos del crimen organizado que controlan la vida política para consolidar su control, la llamada “narcopolítica”. El 23 de marzo de 2017, Breach fue asesinada a sangre fría a la entrada de su casa y aunque existe una investigación judicial de su muerte ésta ha dejado cabos sueltos. El Colectivo 23 de marzo, un grupo de periodistas que trabaja en México, en colaboración con las organizaciones internacionales Forbidden Stories, Bellingcat y el Centro Latinoamericano de Periodismo de Investigación (CLIP) se unieron para desvelar qué se ha investigado y qué no sobre este crimen, que no debe quedar impune.

El 23 de marzo 2017 a las siete de la mañana, en la ciudad de Chihuahua, la periodista mexicana Miroslava Breach subió a su camioneta para llevar a su hijo de 14 años al colegio. De pronto apareció un hombre desconocido, con la cara escondida bajo una gorra y abrió fuego. La periodista no sobrevivió al ataque.

Breach era una profesional respetada por su ejemplar trabajo de investigación, realizado en medio de una gran peligro. Trabajaba para los periódicos La Jornada y El Norte de Ciudad Juárez, escribiendo sobre el crimen organizado y la corrupción de las autoridades locales en su natal Chihuahua, que es considerado uno de los Estados más violentos del país. En los últimos meses de su vida, había centrado su trabajo en los narcopolíticos, miembros de grupos del narcotráfico que se infiltran en el ámbito político para consolidar su control. Se dedicó particularmente a investigar la expansión de Los Salazares, una organización criminal que opera en el pueblo serrano de Chínipas en alianza con el cartel de Sinaloa, codirigido por Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán hasta que fue detenido en 2016, y que ha crecido bajo el cobijo de las autoridades que les garantizan impunidad.

Dos años después del asesinato, las investigaciones de las autoridades locales y federales han dejado muchos cabos sueltos. Ninguna ha establecido un vínculo entre el asesinato y los grupos criminales o políticos, a pesar de las indagaciones de Miroslava sobre el tema y a pesar de las amenazas que recibía de parte de ellos. Solo un hombre, Juan Carlos Moreno Ochoa, apodado El Larry, fue detenido. Según las autoridades, sería el único instigador del asesinato de Miroslava, algo que deja fuera de sospecha precisamente a quienes ella había investigado: el crimen organizado y sus nexos con la política.

Sin embargo, la versión oficial de los hechos ha dejado fuera muchas piezas del rompecabezas.

Es por esto que el Colectivo 23 de Marzo, que agrupa a periodistas mexicanos, en alianza con las organizaciones periodísticas internacionales Forbidden Stories, Bellingcat y el Centro Latinoamericano de Investigaciones Periodísticas (CLIP), se unieron para llevar a cabo la investigación Proyecto Miroslava.

Piezas faltantes

25 de diciembre del 2017. Nueve meses han pasado desde el asesinato de Miroslava Breach. Se realizaron ocho disparos a través de las ventanas de su auto. Sus hijos, que estaban cerca, escucharon la ráfaga. Tras nueve meses de investigación (y de espera), Javier Corral, gobernador del Estado de Chihuahua, anunció frente a las cámaras de televisión la captura de Juan Carlos Moreno Ochoa, El Larry.

El hombre, detenido en el Estado vecino de Sonora, fue presentado como el autor intelectual de la muerte de Breach. También se reveló la identidad del sicario: Ramón Andrés Zabala, un pistolero de 25 años, que fue hallado muerto también en el Estado de Sonora. Tenían otro cómplice, Jaciel Vega Villa quien, según las autoridades, habría conducido al tirador al lugar de la escena del crimen antes de darse a la fuga. En tono muy solemne, el gobernador Corral enumeró los elementos considerados en el expediente policial: 200 horas de vídeo analizadas, escuchas telefónicas, más de 20 testigos interrogados y la movilización de expertos en la escena del crimen en una investigación que pretendía ser un "modelo nacional" de cómo investigar crímenes contra periodistas en México.

A pesar de su apariencia ejemplar, la investigación oficial, iniciada por la Fiscalía del Estado de Chihuahua y continuada por la Procuraduría General de la República desde 2018, no logra ocultar sus carencias: hay indicios y pruebas que nunca fueron tenidos en cuenta durante la investigación, políticos que no fueron interrogados adecuadamente, personas que pudieron haber tenido algún grado de implicación en los hechos que, sin embargo, fueron considerados solamente como testigos y se les protegió la identidad, así como irregularidades en la escena del crimen y elementos de prueba contradictorios.

El Proyecto Miroslava identifica todas esas irregularidades que, unidas, apuntan a concluir que no se investigaron debidamente las pistas que llevaban directamente a los narcopolíticos que habrían podido estar detrás de este crimen.

Las pruebas ignoradas

El asesinato de la periodista Miroslava Breach ha gozado de una amplia cobertura mediática en México. No fue la primera ni la única en ser asesinada simplemente por haber realizado su labor, pero sus investigaciones implacables —que destaparon muchas veces los estrechos vínculos entre carteles y políticos— la convierten en icono de la libertad de prensa, constantemente ultrajada en este país latinoamericano.

Algunas horas después del homicidio, la policía anunció un primer hallazgo: una cartulina tirada a algunos metros de la camioneta que presuntamente revela la identidad del autor intelectual del crimen. La nota habría sido firmada por El 80, el apodo de un jefe regional del cartel de Juárez, enemigo del cartel de Sinaloa y de sus aliados Los Salazares. Pero con el paso de las horas, fue cambiando la naturaleza del mensaje. Decenas de periodistas observaron la evolución de las versiones oficiales: tres versiones en tan solo 48 horas.

El mensaje cambiaba y se alargaba a medida que avanzaba el reloj, despertando las sospechas de los reporteros que siguieron de cerca el caso. Adicionalmente, nuestro colectivo descubrió que la cadena de custodia de esta evidencia, a pesar de ser esencial, no había sido mantenida debidamente. Resulta imposible rastrear las manos por las que pasó, desde la escena del crimen hasta que se hizo público.

A partir de este primer indicio, las incongruencias se comienzan a acumular. Por ejemplo, la presencia del gobernador Corral tres días después del asesinato en el domicilio de uno de los cómplices, Jaciel Vega Villa, durante el registro de la policía. Algunos meses después, ante los micrófonos de un programa de radio, Corral casualmente reconoció haber estado presente en el lugar de la investigación.

Dentro de esta misma casa se descubrieron numerosas pruebas durante la investigación oficial. El carro que manejó el asesino de Miroslava fue encontrado allí. Este coche pertenece efectivamente a Jaciel Vega Villa, un estudiante universitario que presuntamente estuvo tras el timón en el momento del asesinato de Miroslava Breach. Tras realizar indagaciones, el Colectivo 23 de marzo descubrió un vínculo familiar significativo: Jaciel es ahijado de Alfredo Salazar Ramírez, líder de Los Salazares y cuya extradición ha sido solicitada por un tribunal de Estados Unidos.

Narcopolíticos

El registro de la casa de Jaciel Vega Villa permitió también a los investigadores encontrar una computadora personal, con dos grabaciones de audio. Ambas corresponden a conversaciones telefónicas durante las cuales un hombre interroga insistentemente a Miroslava Breach y otra colega que había publicado la misma denuncia. Su objetivo era obtener las identidades de las fuentes de la investigación de su historia sobre los candidatos "narcopolíticos" en las elecciones municipales, particularmente el candidato auspiciado por Los Salazares en el municipio de Chínipas. Durante esta llamada, Breach rehusó categóricamente entregar esta información, desafiando con ironía al hombre del otro lado del teléfono hablando de su par de "ovarios". "El silencio es complicidad", le espetó ella.

El interlocutor de Breach fue finalmente identificado unos diez días después por la Fiscalía. Se trataba de Alfredo Piñera, portavoz estatal del Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), el partido del gobernador de Chihuahua y una de las formaciones políticas mexicanas más importante. El vocero reenvió esas grabaciones ilegales a otro político local, a quien Miroslava Breach posteriormente denunció por sus probables vínculos con el crimen organizado: el entonces alcalde de Chínipas, Hugo Amed Schultz. Ante la justicia, éste explicó que con la grabación buscaba demostrarle a Los Salazares que no era responsable de la fuga de información, y evitar así represalias. Sin embargo, al entregar esa grabación a la gente de El Larry, en la práctica condenó a muerte a la periodista.
Se podría asumir que la cantidad de información que la justicia posee contra una persona bastaría para preocuparla. Pero no sucedió así. Desde el inicio de la investigación del caso, Schultz recibió el estatus de testigo e incluso tiene un seudónimo, Boby, en las transcripciones judiciales para resguardar su identidad. El mismo trato recibió Piñera, cuyo nombre fue cambiado a Casio en la investigación judicial. Los dos hombres han logrado seguir sin problemas con sus carreras profesionales, a pesar de esas informaciones comprometedoras. Piñera fue contratado como asesor del coordinador del grupo del PAN en el Parlamento. Schultz, por su parte, llegó a trabajar en el Gobierno estatal y ha podido conservar su plaza de docente. Está considerando dirigir el comité nacional del PAN en Chínipas.

La lentitud de la justicia federal

A partir de abril del 2018, la Fiscalía Especial para la Atención de Delitos cometidos contra la Libertad de Expresión (FEADLE) de la Fiscalía General de la República, se encargó del caso, para disgusto de las autoridades del Estado de Chihuahua. La esperanza de que se hiciera justicia renació. Apenas abrió la investigación, la Fiscalía federal interrogó a dos nuevos testigos, miembros de la cúpula del PAN. Sin embargo, también solicitó –extrañamente— el interrogatorio de cinco periodistas cercanos a Miroslava Breach, como si fueran sospechosos.

Hasta ahora los resultados han demostrado ser decepcionantes. Este colectivo descubrió que no hubo una investigación real de otros casos que están ligados al asesinato de la periodista. Tampoco se investigaron las circunstancias en torno a la muerte del sicario Ramón Andrés Zabala.
Jaciel Vega Villa, el conductor del asesino, está prófugo. Un alto funcionario estatal confirmó versiones de prensa de que el joven fue interrogado por las autoridades algunos días después del asesinato, sin ser inculpado, justificándose en que la identidad del sospechoso no se conocía entonces. Sin embargo, el funcionario se corrigió posteriormente, aduciendo que se había equivocado, cuando el fiscal estatal rechazó tajantemente que hubieran tenido a Vega en custodia. Desde entonces, dos testigos confirmaron a este colectivo que en efecto Vega fue interrogado y otros señalan que está escondido en Chínipas. Sigue prófugo hasta hoy.

Otras decisiones cuestionables de las autoridades judiciales incluyen una policía estatal —y sobrina de El Larry— que hospedó a los asesinos y un hombre que los recogió de la escena del crimen. Ambos recibieron estatus de testigos, con identidades protegidas y nunca fueron considerados como posibles sospechosos. Los investigadores penales tampoco indagaron sobre una licencia de piloto encontrada en la casa de Vega, ni identificaron a los dueños de los números telefónicos con los que éste se comunicó justo después del crimen. Este colectivo tampoco encontró evidencia de que se hiciera investigación judicial alguna en Chínipas, a pesar de que tantas evidencias del asesinato de Miroslava conducen hacia este municipio en la sierra Tarahumara.

El proceso de El Larry continúa estancado, bloqueado por un testigo clave que se niega a hablar. El fiscal estatal de Chihuahua decidió no responder a una solicitud de entrevista del Colectivo 23 de marzo. Y aunque el responsable de la Fiscalía para la Atención de Delitos cometidos contra la Libertad de Expresión nos habló, rehusó dar detalles que pudieran comprometer la investigación y expresó su respaldo al proceder de la Fiscalía estatal, a pesar de sus evidentes fallas.

Éste es el estado actual de la investigación que pretendía ser un "modelo nacional" para todos los futuros asesinatos de periodistas en México. Tanto el Estado de Chihahua como posteriormente las autoridades federales han ignorado pistas cruciales durante sus investigaciones. Las preguntas de este colectivo se toparon con su silencio. Un silencio que, como decía la misma Miroslava Breach, se convierte en cómplice.

10.08.2019. Northern Ireland. Deathly silence shields the killer of journalist Lyra McKee (European Center for Press and Media Freedom ECPMF)

More than one hundred days after investigative reporter Lyra McKee was shot dead during rioting in Northern Ireland, no-one has been charged in connection with her death.

On 2. August her book about a terrorist outrage during the civil war known as ”The Troubles” is being published posthumously. Titled Angels with Blue Faces, it’s the result of Lyra McKee’s research over five years into the death in 1981 of South Belfast MP Robert Bradford. He was shot dead by the IRA, together with the caretaker of the community centre where he was meeting with constituents. Bradford was a unionist politician, supporting the union of Northern Ireland and the UK, and a former Methodist minister which put him on the other side of the conflict from the Roman Catholic Republicans who were fighting for a united island of Ireland. (Methodism is a strict Protestant sect).The MP's police bodyguard was not targeted and survived the shooting, as McKee notes in the book.

In her investigations, McKee tried to establish the truth about a cold case that had attracted international attention. At the time there was speculation that the MP was about to reveal details of the Kincora Boys Home child sex abuse scandal  which had links to Ulster Unionist politicians and officers of the British MI5 intelligence service.

The 29 year old journalist was also working on another book The Lost Boys about youngsters who disappeared from the streets of Belfast during The Troubles. It is scheduled to be published in 2020 by Janklow and Nesbit, a branch of the Faber and Faber publishing house.

On 18. April 2019, the twenty-first anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that ended the civil war in Northern Ireland, Lyra McKee was shot in the head during rioting in the Creggan, a Republican district of Derry (also known as Londonderry). She was taken to hospital in a police vehicle but died of her injuries. Police investigating the murder have compiled the video footage from mobile phones and CCTV cameras and posted it on YouTube. The fact-checking website bellingcat has also produced a video. This video contains disturbing images and discretion is advised when viewing or showing it.

An extreme Republican group called the New IRA (New Irish Republican Army), connected to the Saoradh political party, has claimed responsibility for the shooting. Saoradh is the Irish language word for ‘liberation’. The party’s statement claims that Lyra Mckee was killed accidentally as ’a Republican volunteer was trying to defend local people against a heavily armed incursion by police’. The party sent a protest letter to the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) claiming that civilian journalists had taken part in the police raids on homes and filmed them.

Rejecting their statement, NUJ General Secretary Michelle Stanistreet and Assistant General Secretary Seamus Dooley noted "Our message to Saoradh is clear and unambiguous. NUJ members will continue to do their work in a professional manner and will not accept either threats or lectures on standards from an organisation which responded in such a callous fashion to Lyra’s murder. The best way we can honour the memory of Lyra McKee is to continue her fearless work in exposing social justice and inequalities.”

Colleagues and supporters of the murdered reporter have used red paint to place handprints on the wall of the political party office, indicating that her blood is on their hands.

Despite appeals for information and house-to-house police searches in the Creggan district, no-one has so far been charged in connection with the fatal shooting. Police have released video footage that shows a masked gunman dressed in black with white gloves emerging from behind a wall and firing towards the police vehicle where Lyra McKee was standing with another local reporter to observe the disturbance. The shot is fired, he steps back and then he and another masked man are seen again picking up small items from the ground. Officers investigating the case are still appealing for images and information that could lead to the gunman.

At her funeral, top-level tributes were paid to Lyra McKee, who was a well-known journalist and campaigner for LGBTQI rights. The then British Prime Minister Theresa May attended the service at Belfast’s St Anne’s cathedral. McKee’s partner Sara Canning condemned ’the senseless murder’ and her family appealed to the communities of Northern Ireland: “We would ask that Lyra's life and her personal philosophy are used as an example to us all as we face this tragedy together. Lyra's answer would have been simple, the only way to overcome hatred and intolerance is with love, understanding and kindness.“

The National Union of Journalists, which represents members across the whole island of Ireland and UK also held a memorial service in the Garden of Remembrance in the Irish capital Dublin.

26.06.2019. Dominican Republic. Six men sentenced in murder of Dominican journalist who was killed in 2015 (Knight Center)

José Radhamés Lorenzo, aka Antón, was sentenced to 30 years in prison by the Collegiate Court of the province of Monseñor Nouel for having fired on the journalist, as reported by Dominican newspaper El Día. Another five people implicated – Iván Eliseo de León, José Manuel Vargas, Joel Peña Rodríguez, Wilmer de Jesús Camacho and Darling Franco Vásquez – were sentenced to 20 years in prison each, the site said.

Those sentenced, who also were found guilty of belonging to a criminal gang that abducted and robbed people on public roads, must also pay compensation of eight million Dominican pesos (about US $159,000) to Olivo’s children, El Dia reported.

According to the site Acento, police reports indicated that Olivo was abducted by a gang of criminals to steal his Jeep.

According to the site Listín Diario, the public prosecution had requested the maximum penalty of 30 years for all those implicated.

Olivo – an economist, former press director of the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD) and a journalist with 30 years of experience covering agricultural and environmental issues – was found dead with four bullet wounds on April 12, 2015 in the municipality of Piedra Blanca, in the southeastern region of the country. Olivo allegedly was intercepted in his vehicle by several men after leaving his relatives' house in Bonao, Listín Diario reported. His vehicle was found abandoned on a farm in another province in the north of the country, the media outlet said.

An editorial column in the Dominican newspaper El Nacional, published in February 2019, indicated that Olivo's death could not have been coincidental, that "it was a planned death, that someone wanted to remove him from the media outlet, 'to put him under.’" The opinion article, written four months before the latest sentences, also points to the four-year delay of the judicial decision as suspicious.

17.04.2019. AFGHANISTAN. Two sentenced to death for 2018 killing of Afghan journalist Abdul Manan Arghand (CPJ)

The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Afghan government to deliver justice through a fair and transparent process after two suspects were sentenced to death for the killing of Kabul News journalist Abdul Manan Arghand.

The verdict was announced on April 16 by the Afghan attorney general's office, following the court's decision on April 6, according to local independent broadcaster TOLO News and Jamshid Rasooli, a spokesperson for the attorney general's office, who spoke to CPJ.

The names of the two suspects have not been released, and the trial was not open to the public, according to Rasooli.

"We applaud the government's efforts to end impunity in the murder of journalists in Afghanistan, which is one of the deadliest places in the world to be a journalist," said Robert Mahoney, CPJ's deputy executive director. "But justice delivered in darkness is not justice, especially when the state decides upon capital punishment. We urge the Afghan authorities to try suspects in open court in accordance with international human rights standards."

The primary court's decision will be reviewed by a secondary court and by the Afghan supreme court, Rasooli told CPJ.

Arghand, a reporter with the privately owned Kabul News television channel, was shot and killed by two unknown gunmen on April 25, 2018, while he was driving to work, according to CPJ reporting. He had previously received anonymous death threats and the Interior Ministry said the Taliban had marked Arghand as a target for assassination, CPJ reported.

The two men who were sentenced to death were associated with the Taliban, Rasooli said.

A court also convicted three men for killing Ahmad Shah, a reporter with the BBC's Afghan service who was killed in 2018, the BBC reported in January; one man was handed a death sentence, and the other two were sentenced to 30 years and six years in prison. The motive for Shah's killing remains unclear, according to the BBC and CPJ. CPJ is continuing to investigate the case.

Afghanistan was the deadliest country for journalists last year and ranked sixth on CPJ's Impunity Index, which highlights states with the worst records of prosecuting the killers of journalists.

04.04.2019. Serbia : four men convicted of Serbian journalist’s murder in 1999 (RSF)

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) hails the “historic” sentences of 20 to 30 years in prison that four men received today in Belgrade for Serbian newspaper editor Slavko Curuvija’s murder in 1999, and urges the authorities to pursue the investigation in order to identify and punish the person who ordered the murder.

It took 20 years, including four years of judicial proceedings, for the perpetrators of Curuvija’s murder – former four state security officers ­– to be tried and convicted by a special court for organized crime. This is the first time in recent Serbian history that anyone has been convicted of murdering a journalist.

“We welcome this highly symbolic conviction, one that testifies to a strong commitment by the Serbian authorities to respect the rule of law and the fight against impunity,” said Pauline Adès-Mevel, the head of RSF’s European Union and Balkans desk. “The justice system must nonetheless continue its efforts in order to convict all those involved in Slavko Curujiva’s murder, including the person who gave the orders.”

A leading critic of then President Slobodan Milosevic’s regime, Curujiva was shot 14 times in the back outside his home by two masked man on 11 April 1999. This courageous and professional journalist’s murder became a symbol of the regime’s authoritarian excesses, but 15 years went by before the suspected killers were arrested and charged.

While hailing the conviction of Curujiva’s killers, RSF points out that two other murders of Serbian journalists – Dada Vujasinović on 8 April 1994 and Milan Pantić on 11 June 2001 – have yet to be solved, and calls for the investigations to be relaunched. According to the Association of Serbian Journalists (UNS), over 30 journalists working for Serbian media were killed or went missing during the wars in former Yugoslavia.

14.03.2019. Slovakia promises justice for Ján as journalists complete his work; businessman charged with ordering murder (ECPMF)

by Jane Whyatt

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini has promised the European Parliament (EP) that he will uncover and punish the perpetrators responsible for the assassination of Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová. A major positive step has been taken in the case, as Slovak businessman Marian Kočner is now charged with ordering the murders. He remains in police custody. 

Others had been arrested and charged with participating in the murders. However, the authorities had thus far fallen short of charging Kočner, who had been surrounded by strong suspicions based of his past history of threatening Kuciak.

According to The Slovak Spectator, Kočner was initially detained under suspicion of financial crimes. Kuciak's investigative work has reportedly helped land him there. Spectator Editor-in-Chief Beata Balogová tells the ECPMF:

"We all should welcome the charges against Kočner because it gives us hope that there are enough fair and honest members of the police and prosecutors in Slovakia. And that thanks to them, this bloody story will be completed for the public to understand how deep was the disintegration of morals within the group of oligarchs who enjoyed the protection of the government of Robert Fico. But there is still a lot of work left to be done, for the investigators as well as the society."

Internaional media are also picking up the story, as well as the Twitter sphere, where the hashtag #JanKuciak has helped keep the journalist's case in the public eye.

ECPMF Legal Advisor Flutura Kusari, who has followed Kuciak's case closely since the assassinations happened a year ago, comments on the development:

"We welcome the charges brought against Marian Kočner, the person who threatened Ján Kuciak, and whom the journalist alerted authorities about, months before he was brutally murdered together with his partner Martina Kušnírová. These charges indicate that the investigations into individual culpability – that is, who ordered the assassination and who killed them - are on good track."

She adds: "The investigation should also focus on why Slovak authorities failed to protect Kuciak and Kušnírová. When a person reports severe threats to the police - as Kuciak did – the national authorities have the legal obligation under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights to protect that person. Slovakia failed to protect him, and those responsible should be brought to justice."

Media freedom organisations and civil society had both kept the pressure on, to make sure no perpetrators of the murder would remain unpunished. In his 12. March address on the Future of Europe, to the EP plenary meeting in Strasbourg, Prime Minister Pellegrini mentioned the protests that followed the murders. 

“Any attack on journalists causes protest... this is a sign of maturity,” said the Social Democrat (SMER SD) leader, noting that the demonstrations were repeated on the anniversay of the deaths in February 2019. 

Massive demonstrations last year had led to his predecessor Robert Fico's resignation, along with that of three Cabinet Ministers, the Slovak Police Chief and other high-ranking government officials. 

Pellegrini said he welcomed the delegations of MEPs, MPs and EU Commission officers who have visited Slovakia to probe the allegations of EU funding fraud and mafia involvement that Kuciak was investigating at the time of his death.

Those investigations continue thanks to the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which has helped establish a centre in his name. Hidden away in the backstreets of the Slovakian capital Bratislava, the office is – appropriately - anonymous. Its manager is investigative journalist Arpad Soltesz, and he gave an interview to ECPMF. For the interview, go to:

https://www.ecpmf.eu/news/threats/slovakia-promises-justice-for-jan-as-journalists-complete-his-work

02.02.2019. BRAZIL. Investigative journalism helps to shed light on murders of communicators in Brazil (Knight Center)

Following the murders of two Brazilian radio journalists, two investigative journalists left Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo for cities in the interior of the country where the killings had taken place. There, they helped reveal networks of interests and intrigues that may have motivated the two crimes. Police investigations of the cases have led to legal accusations against 17 people, now in jail and awaiting trial.

The Tim Lopes Program of the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) announced the most recent developments in the two murders of radio journalists investigated by the project so far: that of Jefferson Pureza, who died on Jan. 17, 2018 in Edealina, Goiás, and that of Jairo de Sousa, who died on June 21, 2018 in Bragança, Pará.

In the most recent update, the public prosecutor (MP, for its initials in Portuguese) of Pará denounced councillor Cesar Monteiro Gonçalves, a member of the Party of the Republic (PR), and 10 others for alleged involvement in the murder of radio journalist Jairo de Sousa.

Police investigations concluded that the city councilor in Bragança commissioned hitmen to murder the radio journalist for R $30,000 (about US $8,100), Abraji reported. Police say that the motivations for the crime were denunciations made by Sousa on his radio program about the alleged deviation of funds committed by the councilman and his political group.

The radio journalist was shot dead in the early hours of June 21, 2018 in Bragança, while arriving at Pérola radio, where he worked, to present his morning program "Show da Pérola." According to the police investigation on which the MP’s accusations are based, the shooting was allegedly carried out by Dione de Sousa Almeida, an alleged member of the squad contracted by Gonçalves.

The two were arrested in November, as well as José Roberto Costa de Sousa, known as Calar, who is allegedly head of the group of killers and the person with whom the councillor contracted the murderer of the radio journalist, according to the police investigation, as reported by Abraji. Councilman Cesar Monteiro denied involvement in the crime in an interview on Nov. 17 by a radio broadcaster from Pérola radio, where Sousa worked, the organization said.

Six people already have been arrested and accused of involvement in the murder of radio journalist Jefferson Pureza, killed at his home in Edealina, Goiás, on January 17, 2018. They include councillor José Eduardo Alves da Silva, accused of ordering the murder, and three teenagers - all deny participation in the crime, according to Abraji. According to organization, Judge Aluizio Martins Pereira de Souza, from Jandaia (GO), issued a statement on the case at the end of December 2018.

The magistrate referred the case to a jury trial, which is expected to happen in the first half of 2019, Angelina Nunes, Tim Lopes Program coordinator, told the Knight Center. "The two cases are very similar, with councilors involved as principals and very similar mechanics. This is repeated a lot in this so-called 'deep Brazil,' where the lives of these communicators really hang by a thread," she said.

The Tim Lopes Program for the Protection of Journalists was launched in September 2017 to use investigative journalism to combat impunity in murders, assassination attempts and abductions of press professionals. The program also seeks to continue the work interrupted by the perpetrators of the crimes.

The project has a media network that is set up to follow the investigations and publish reports on the denunciations the journalist worked on until he was killed. The network includes Agência Pública, the newspapers Correio (BA) and O Globo, the sites Poder 360, Ponte Jornalismo, Projeto Colabor, TV channels Aratu and Globo and the magazine Veja.

In the cases of the deaths of Jefferson Pureza and Jairo de Sousa, Nunes and the journalist Rafael Oliveira went to the cities where the crimes took place and carried out in-depth reporting work on the possible motivations and those who could be responsible for the murders of the communicators.

For this reason, Nunes estimates that the work of the program was crucial for identification of the suspects and their capture by police and for the MP to present the accusations - this in a country where the rate of clarification of intentional homicides is only 6 percent.

"The reporting we did was fundamental, especially the one that detailed the denunciations that Jairo made, crossing documents and showing the progress of the denunciations," said Nunes, referring to the report "Who killed and who had Jairo de Sousa killed?," reproduced by outlets aligned with the Tim Lopes Program and the Knight Center in September 2018.

"We already pointed out in our preliminary investigation that he made allegations of misappropriation of funds and that the death was linked to his work. We explained that the company mentioned in the MP’s complaint [and about which Jairo de Sousa was speaking on his radio program], Torre Forte, belonged to two nephews of the councilman. So I think the investigation of the Tim Lopes Program contributed a lot," she said.

The main people involved in the two cases - city councilors José Eduardo Alves da Silva in Edealina and Cesar Monteiro in Bragança - were not on site during the visit of the Tim Lopes Program team, Nunes said. According to her, soon after the murders there were already rumors of the involvement of politicians and they were not found in the cities. Police and prosecutors involved in the cases were interviewed by Nunes and Oliveira as sources for the reports. The journalistic investigation "helped keep the pressure" on the authorities to clarify the cases, Nunes believes.

"Not only did we talk to the authorities, we also sent letters [advising about the presence of the reporting team in the cities]. When I got to places, I felt the respect they had for our work, and I felt that there was a quicker response knowing there were journalists covering it."

The Tim Lopes Program continues to follow the developments of these two cases, now in court. For Nunes, these first two experiences highlighted the importance of collaborative journalistic work in defending press freedom and protecting journalists. "It was important to show - and that is our goal - that the denunciations made by the radio journalists do not die with them. We go there and find out and continue the work."

And to strengthen this work, it is important that the program's media network is consolidated and broadened, says the coordinator.

"When more people are reporting, more things can surface," Nunes said. "We have already shown that it is possible to do a quality investigation - I did it together with Rafael, so imagine if we have a bigger team yet? Because in each case there are many developments, a lot of paperwork to read, many names to cross, people to interview ... So the more people digging, the better."

31.01.2019. SYRIA. US court finds Assad regime liable for Marie Colvin's death in Syria

The Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad has been held liable by a US court for the extrajudicial killing of the Sunday Times war correspondent Marie Colvin and ordered to pay $300m dollars (£228m) in punitive damages.

In a judgment published on Thursday, the Syrian government was found to have targeted journalists deliberately during the country’s civil war in order to “intimidate newsgathering” and suppress dissent.

Colvin, an American reporter who operated out of London, and Rémi Ochlik, a French photojournalist, were killed in a rocket attack on a makeshift media centre in the rebel-held city of Homs in February 2012.

A claim against Assad’s regime was lodged with a Washington court by her sister Cathleen and her three children. “It’s been almost seven years since my sister was killed by the Assad regime, and not a day goes by when I don’t think of her,” Cathleen said on Thursday.

“My heart goes out to the families of the many thousands of victims of the Syrian conflict. It is my greatest hope that the court’s ruling will lead to other criminal prosecutions, and serve as a deterrent against future attacks on the press and on civilians.

“Marie dedicated her life to fighting for justice on behalf of the victims of war and ensuring that their stories were heard. This case is an extension of her legacy, and I think she’d be proud of what we achieved today.”

The British war photographer Paul Conroy, a former soldier with the Royal Artillery who worked closely with Colvin, escaped with a leg wound in the attack. He said he felt emotional and vindicated by the ruling.

“Syrian journalists are being murdered daily for seven years and this is a really good day, it sounds a bit corny, for justice,” he told Press Association. “We can now use this case to point at our own politicians and world leaders who are thinking that the Assad regime can be rehabilitated back into the international democratic fold, as it were.”

In her decision, judge Amy Jackson of the US district court for the District of Columbia declared that Marie Colvin was “specifically targeted because of her profession, for the purpose of silencing those reporting on the growing opposition movement in the country. [The] murder of journalists acting in their professional capacity could have a chilling effect on reporting such events worldwide.”

“A targeted murder of an American citizen, whose courageous work was not only important, but vital to our understanding of war zones and of wars generally, is outrageous, and therefore a punitive damages award that multiples the impact on the responsible state is warranted.”

As well as awarding $300m in punitive damages, the court also ordered Syria to pay $2.5m in compensation to Colvin’s sister and $11,836 in funeral expenses.

Scott Gilmore, lead counsel for claimants, said: “This case is a legal rejoinder to the war on truth waged by strongman leaders like Bashar al-Assad. At a time when journalists face unprecedented threats, the court sent a very clear message: evidence speaks louder than disinformation, and censorship through violence is a serious breach of international law.”

Lawyers for the Colvin family relied on the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which allows claimants to sue foreign countries through the US courts for compensation and punitive damages. In 2016, Assad said in a television interview that Colvin was responsible for her own death because she had entered the country illegally and was working with “terrorists”.

28.01.2019. MEXICO. Mexican president makes promise to widow of slain journalist Javier Valdez to support investigation into his murder

Days after witness testimony in a U.S. trial pointed to the sons of a Mexican drug lord for the murder of journalist Javier Valdez, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador told the reporter’s widow that the government will support the investigation into his killing. 

“I have asked the Secretary of the Interior to attend to her personally, to give her all the information we have, to talk with her and to have the full assurance that we are going to support the entire investigation, everything that is our part and that when she wants to be here with us and express herself, appear, the doors are opened to assist her,” the leader said at a press conference on Jan. 25. He added that the secretary had a private report to present her.

Griselda Triana, Valdez’s widow, asked that no lines of investigation be discarded in the murder case.

“It does not matter to me which criminal organization the order came from, what matters to me is that it is very clear, and also that the Attorney General, now the new Attorney General of the Republic, does it job, deepens its investigations, that it is very rigorous, very exhaustive and determines who gave the order to kill Javier,” she said. “It is very clear that they killed him for his work, because they did not like what was published.”

Olga Sánchez Cordero, the secretary of the Interior, said all lines of investigation would be explored.

On May 15, 2017, Valdez, co-founder of newspaper Ríodoce, was dragged from his car and shot multiple times just blocks from his workplace. He reported on drug trafficking in Sinaloa and was the author of multiple books on the subject.

Two days before the president’s statements, during the U.S. trial for Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, witness Damaso López Nuñez, also known as El Licenciado, said the sons of El Chapo killed Valdez because he published an interview after they told him not to, according to AFP.

The reporter “disobeyed the threatening orders of my compadre’s children and that’s why they killed him,” López said, according to the news agency.

The interview in question was with López Nuñez, in which he denied a letter issued on the program of another journalist, the newspaper reported. In the letter, Guzmán’s sons accused López Nuñez of trying to kill them, El Universal said.

According to López Nuñez, Ríodoce was told not to publish the interview, but did it anyway.

Concerning Guzmán’s knowledge of the alleged events, López Nuñez said “The truth is perhaps my compadre did not know it, but now he knows,” according to El Universal.

The witness’ statements were made after defense attorney asked whether he or his son had anything to do with Valdez’s murder and he denied it, as reported by newspaper El Universal.

El Universal reported that there were accounts pointing to him as the murderer because of an article critical of his son. López, who said he started working for Guzmán in 2001, received a life sentence in prison in the U.S. for drug trafficking, according to Reuters. He is cooperating in Guzmán’s trial in hopes of a reduced sentence, he said, according to the news agency.

07.11.2018. UNESCO launches Observatory of Killed Journalists, tracking actions taken to punish crimes against media practitioners. The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) welcomes this initiative and hopes that it will help to fight against impunity

On International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, 2 November, UNESCO launched the Observatory of Killed Journalists. The Observatory is an online database providing information on the status of judicial enquiries into each killing of a journalist or media worker recorded by UNESCO since 1993, based on information provided by the country in which the killing took place.

According to the 2018 UNESCO Director-General Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity, one journalist or media personnel is killed every four days. These deaths provide a tragic demonstration of the risks many journalists face in the line of duty and the latest UNESCO statistics show that in 89% of cases, the perpetrators go unpunished.

The newly launched Observatory counts 1,293 killings since 1993, including more than 80 recorded so far this year. The online database allows journalists, researchers and members of the public to obtain information on killed journalists, with search options based on nationality, country of killing, name, sex, media type, and employment status.

The database also provides information about the status of judicial enquiries and, in many cases, makes available documents from national authorities on judicial proceedings. Country profiles allow insights into levels of impunity per country.

UNESCO, as the UN agency with the mandate to promote freedom of expression and the safety of journalists, monitors killings and supports Member States in addressing the prevailing climate of impunity for such attacks.

See also: Safety of journalists

L’UNESCO lance l’Observatoire des journalistes assassinés, qui répertorie les mesures prises pour punir les crimes commis contre les professionnels des médias

A l’occasion de la Journée internationale de la fin de l’impunité pour les crimes commis contre les journalistes, le 2 novembre, l’UNESCO a lancé l’Observatoire des journalistes assassinés. Cet observatoire est une base de données en ligne qui fournit des informations sur l’état d’avancement des enquêtes judiciaires menées sur chaque meurtre de journaliste ou de professionnel des médias recensé par l’UNESCO depuis 1993, sur la base des informations fournies par le pays dans lequel le meurtre a été commis.

Selon le Rapport de la Directrice générale de l'UNESCO sur la sécurité des journalistes et le danger d'impunité 2018, un journaliste ou membre des médias est tué tous les quatre jours. Ces décès fournissent une illustration tragique des risques qu’encourent beaucoup de journalistes dans l’exercice de leurs fonctions et les dernières statistiques de l’UNESCO montrent que dans 89% des cas, les auteurs de ces actes restent impunis.

Ce tout récent Observatoire compte 1 293 meurtres depuis 1993, dont plus de 80 depuis le début de cette année. La base de données en ligne permet aux journalistes, aux chercheurs et au grand public d’obtenir des informations sur les journalistes tués et d’effectuer des recherches par nationalité, par pays du meurtre, par nom, par genre, par type de média, et par statut professionnel.

La base de données fournit également des informations sur l’état d’avancement des enquêtes judiciaires et, dans de nombreux cas, elle donne accès à des documents émanant des autorités nationales sur les procédures judiciaires. Les profils par pays permettent d’évaluer les niveaux d’impunité de chaque pays.

L’UNESCO, en tant qu’agence des Nations Unies chargée de promouvoir la liberté d’expression et la sécurité des journalistes, effectue un suivi des meurtres et aide les États membres à faire face au climat actuel d'impunité pour ces attaques.

05.11.2018. COLOMBIA/ECUADOR. Death on the Border (IFEX)

Six months ago Javier Ortega, Efraín Segarra and Paúl Rivas, members of a journalism crew for the Ecuadoran daily El Comercio, were assassinated in Colombia.

Faced with incomplete and diverging versions from the Ecuadoran and Colombian governments regarding what took place, a group of journalists and organisations began a rigorous investigation into the events surrounding the kidnapping and assassination of the El Comercio personnel.

This work was carried out using the meticulous information verification process of two international organisations, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Forbidden Stories, together with IFEX members FLIP and Fundamedios.

The result of this collaboration was an excellent report that reveals information never before publicised about the investigation and reaches conclusions that could assist in clarifying the events of this brutal crime. The name of the project is Death on the Border: The slain journalists' last days.

30.10.2018. CPJ's 2018 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free

Impunity is entrenched in 14 nations, according to CPJ's 2018 Global Impunity Index, which ranks states with the worst records of prosecuting the killers of journalists.

Somalia tops the list for the fourth year in a row and two countries rejoin the list of offenders, including Afghanistan where a suicide attacker targeted a group of journalists in Kabul, killing nine. Colombia also reappeared on the ranks after a breakaway faction of a guerrilla group with alleged ties to drug trafficking kidnapped an Ecuadoran news crew near the border and murdered them in Colombian territory. Both nations had fallen off the index in recent years as violent conflict receded.

In the past decade, at least 324 journalists have been silenced through murder worldwide and in 85 percent of these cases no perpetrators have been convicted. It is an emboldening message to those who seek to censor and control the media through violence. More than three quarters (82 percent) of these cases took place in the 14 countries that CPJ included on the index this year. All 14 countries have featured on the index multiple times since CPJ began to compile it in 2008, and half have appeared every year.

read more on the CPJ website: www.cpj.org

10.10.2018. BULGARIA. Viktoria Marinova: man arrested in Germany over journalist murder

A man has been arrested over the rape and murder of the journalist Victoria Marinova, Bulgarian authorities have said, adding that they do not believe the attack was linked to Marinova’s work.

The body of Marinova, 30, was found by a passerby on Saturday, after she had gone running along the Danube in Ruse, Bulgaria’s fifth biggest city. She presented a programme on TVN, a local channel.

The man, named as 21-year-old Bulgarian citizen Severin Krasimirov, was detained by German police near Hamburg on Tuesday, at the request of Bulgarian authorities.

“We have enough proof linking this person to the scene of the crime,” said Bulgaria’s interior minister, Mladen Marinov, on Wednesday. Krasimirov, a resident of Ruse, has a criminal record for scrap metal theft, he said. The minister said investigators had spoken to the journalist’s family and friends and added: “There is no apparent link to her work.”

The chief prosecutor, Sotir Tsatsarov, said Krasimirov was already wanted by police over another rape and murder, and added that he did not believe the killing of Marinova was connected to her work, suggesting it was a “spontaneous” attack.

The attack marked the third death of a journalist in an EU country in the space of a year, prompting fears Marinova could have been targeted for her work, especially given that her final broadcast involved an interview with two investigative journalists who were looking into high-level corruption.

On Wednesday morning, however, Bulgaria’s prime minister, Boyko Borisov, launched an attack on journalists and his political opponents, criticising them for speculating that Marinova had been killed because of her journalism.

“I read monstrous things about Bulgaria in the past three days and nothing was true,” he said. “We, as a country, did not deserve to be smeared like this.”

Many European figures tweeted their concern after the killing, including the European commission’s vice-president, Frans Timmermans. He wrote on Twitter: “Shocked by the horrendous murder of Victoria Marinova. Again a courageous journalist falls in the fight for truth and against corruption.”

On Wednesday, Antonio Tajani, the rightwing Italian president of the European parliament, congratulated Bulgarian authorities on Twitter, commending the arrest and stating without evidence that the motive for her murder “was not related to her work as a journalist”.

Borisov lashed out at political opponents for “sending emails to Brussels and the United States, as if this is not something that happens in other countries and is an isolated case”.

The prime minister later invited foreign ambassadors stationed in Sofia to hear a report on the investigation so far. He told the reporters present at the press conference: “You have freedom to write, to talk, to broadcast on every subject.”

Bulgaria has been ranked the 111th country in the world when it comes to press freedom, lower than any other EU state.

Some Bulgarian journalists were less than convinced that the killing was pure coincidence and criticised authorities for appearing to discount the possibility of a contract killing from the outset.

“Viktoria Marinova was not a professional investigator but she dared to speak about this and give others the possibility to discuss it,” said Atanas Chobanov of the investigative organisation Bivol, whose journalists were interviewed by Marinova in her final broadcast. He said the portal had received “credible threats” over the report.

However, many of Marinova’s friends and colleagues have also played down the possibility that she could have been targeted for her work. Her ex-husband Svilen Maksimov, the director of TVN, told Bulgaria’s Nova TV that “all evidence points at absurd, awful coincidence”.

28.09.2018. SLOVAKIA. OSCE media freedom representative welcomes important progress in investigation of murders of Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová in Slovakia

VIENNA, 28 September 2018 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, welcomed today the arrest of eight persons in Slovakia in connection with the murders of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová in February 2018.

“I welcome the important progress in the investigation on the murder of Jan Kuciak and his fiancée, and the arrest of eight persons allegedly linked to this crime. I hope that this will lead to the identification and prosecution of the perpetrators and all involved, especially those who ordered this horrendous assassination,” said Désir “There must be no impunity for killing journalists.”

Kuciak was an investigative reporter who contributed to the news portal aktuality.sk.

The OSCE Representative met with Slovakia’s Prime Minister and Minister of Interior just after the murders to urge the authorities to pursue a full, transparent and swift investigation.

31.07.2018. ECUADOR. IACHR and its Office of the Special Rapporteur installed in Quito Special Follow-Up Team for the murder of members of El Comercio's journalistic team

Washington, D.C. – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression (RFOE) installed a Special Follow-Up Team, on July 25 in Quito, for the case of the killing of journalists Javier Ortega Reyes, Paúl Rivas Bravo, and Efraín Segarra, of “El Comercio” newspaper in Quito, on the border between Ecuador and Colombia in April of this year.

Representatives of the governments of Ecuador and Colombia agreed with the IACHR to establish a Special Follow-Up Team ("ESE" by its Spanish acronym) to accompany the investigation of the murders, search and handing over of the bodies, within the framework of the Precautionary Measure 309-18, still in effect. Commissioner Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño, Rapporteur of the IACHR for Ecuador, will oversee the ESE with the support of the Executive Secretary of the IACHR, as well as the technical team of the precautionary measures section, and the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression.

The IACHR and its Office of the Special Rapporteur recognize the readiness and openness of the Ecuadorian State to collaborate with the work of the Special Follow-Up Team and to solve these crimes. "We welcome and recognize the progress made with the States to satisfy the clamor for justice of the families of the victims and the people of both countries, who deserve a full investigation of these abominable crimes," said Arosemena de Troitiño, first Vice-President of the IACHR and Rapporteur for Ecuador.

The ESE is guided by the principles of transparency, accompaniment, and centrality in the events that occurred in connection to the murder of reporter Javier Ortega Reyes, photographer Paúl Rivas Bravo, and worker Efraín Segarra Abril, of the newspaper "El Comercio", all of them Ecuadorian, who were kidnapped on March 26, 2018 by a group of FARC dissidents which engages in activities related to organized crime, on the Ecuadorian border with Colombia.

Within the activities agreed in the work plan, technical visits to Ecuador are foreseen, as well as independent technical contribution to the investigation, access to information on the progress of the investigations, work meetings, public hearings during the period of sessions of the IACHR, and the issuance of a final report to be presented on December 2018. "The IACHR has worked all this time to propose a follow-up strategy that responds to the legitimate demands of family members and today we can announce a responsible work plan, with the involvement and commitment of both States," said Paulo Abrão, Executive Secretary of the IACHR.

The ESE will work on four specific objectives: I) Technical advice and monitoring in the progress of the investigation and punishment of those responsible for the kidnapping and murder of the journalists; II) Accompany the comprehensive care plan of the victims and relatives, and keep them informed of the process; III) Technical advice and monitoring in the compliance of state obligations regarding access to information and the truth of what happened to the Ecuadorian society, as well as to family members; IV) Advise and support the State in the adoption of structural measures wherever possible and avoid its repetition.

"The Office of the Special Rapporteur will participate permanently with the IACHR in this special team and hopes that this specialized follow-up modality will help ensure that these terrible crimes against journalists do not go unpunished and that both the family and society know the complete truth about what happened. We are aware that this mechanism can be a good example for a region with high rates of violence against communicators and impunity," explained Edison Lanza, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the IACHR.

A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

20.07.2018. UKRAINE. Two years after journalist Sheremet's murder (Ukraine Crisis Media Center)

Ukrainian high-ranking officials publicly called the investigation of Pavel Sheremet’s murder "a matter of honor," but it is still unresolved.

Over 2 years, the investigation has not gathered an evidential base in Sheremet’s murder case. Since the time of the murder, investigating officers have refused to disclose relevant information regarding the course of the investigation, which is conducted by a special group involving the FBI.

There are 5 versions of the journalist’s murder: a crime related to professional activity in the territories of the Russian Federation and Belarus; an error in the object of crime, namely – it had to be an assassination of Olena Prytulya, owner of the Ukrayinska Pravda; professional activity related to his critical articles in the Ukrayinska Pravda and speeches on Radio Vesti; destabilization of the situation in the country, aimed at creating a false negative perception of the socio-political situation in Ukraine; conflict situations in Pavlo Sheremet’s personal life related to his family, commercial and financial state.

But despite numerous inspections, interrogations of over 1,000 people, the removal of more than 150 terabytes video from surveillance cameras, there is currently no official suspect in Sheremet's murder case. The Interior Ministry claims that Sheremet’s Russian citizenship makes the investigation more complicated.

Sheremet died on July 20 at 7:45 am as a result of a car explosion. He was going to conduct his morning program. Pavlo Sheremet lived in Kyiv over the last five years, worked in the Ukrayinska Pravda, was a host of Radio Vesti. 

12.06.2018. Colombia : condena al Estado por el asesinato del periodista Nelson Carvajal

La Federación Internacional de Periodistas (FIP) celebra el fallo histórico de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (Corte IDH) del pasado 6 de junio contra Estado colombiano como responsable del asesinato del periodista Nelson Carvajal por no haber hecho lo suficiente para proteger su vida y garantizar su derecho a la libertad de expresión.

La Corte IDH también consideró que el Estado colombiano es responsable «en gran medida » de la dilación de la investigación del homicidio, por lo que ha exigido al su gobierno que continúe la investigación y que reconozca públicamente su responsabilidad. La FIP valora muy positivamente la sentencia ya que pone fin a la impunidad de un asesinato que se cometió hace dos décadas y pone énfasis en la responsabilidad que tienen los Estados en la protección de los periodistas.

El 16 de abril de 1998, el periodista y profesor colombiano Nelson Carvajal fue asesinado a la salida de su escuela «en el marco de un contexto generalizado de impunidad por derechos de violencia contra periodistas en Colombia », según recoge la sentencia. El periodista radiofónico había investigado casos relacionados con la corrupción y el lavado de dinero proveniente del narcotráfico. En este sentido, la Corte señaló que « no cabe duda » de que el asesinato de Carvajal estaba vinculado con sus investigaciones periodísticas.

« Se trata de una sentencia muy importante porque pone de relieve la responsabilidad de los Estados en la protección de los periodistas y acaba con la impunidad del caso. Mientras no haya justicia, los crímenes contra periodistas y la libertad de prensa se seguirán produciendo », afirmó el secretario general de la FIP, Anthony Bellanger.

La FIP considera la protección de los periodistas y el fin de la impunidad de los crímenes contra ellos una cuestión fundamental. Por este motivo, la FIP insta a los Estados a firmar la Convención Internacional para la Seguridad e Independencia de los Periodistas, que señala que acabar con la impunidad de los crímenes contra periodistas es clave para evitar nuevos ataques y subraya la necesidad de que los Estados ofrezcan mayores medidas de seguridad a los profesionales del periodismo.

26.04.2018. DENMARK. Peter Madsen sentenced to life for murdering journalist Kim Wall (The Guardian)

A Danish inventor has been sentenced to life in prison for the premeditated murder and sexual assault of the Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his submarine in August last year. The judge, Anette Burkø, and two jurors found Peter Madsen, 47, guilty of all three of the main charges of premeditated murder, aggravated sexual assault and desecrating a corpse.

“This is a cynical and pre-planned sexual assault of a particularly brutal nature on a random woman who, in connection with her journalistic work, accepted an invitation for a sailing trip on the accused’s submarine,” Burkø said, explaining the rare decision to hand down Denmark’s most severe sentence.

Wall was 30 when she died. The journalist had reported from all over the world for Time magazine, the New York Times and the Guardian, among others. Her boyfriend told the court she was “incredibly ambitious” and “amazingly curious”.

Madsen looked crushed as he heard the verdict, sitting motionless for close to a minute with his eyes closed and his head bowed, in contrast to his behaviour during the trial, when he had looked frequently around the courtroom. He then left to confer with his defence lawyer, Betina Hald Engmark, who announced on their return that he would appeal.

The case has gripped Denmark ever since Wall failed to return from a trip on Madsen’s self-built Nautilus submarine on 10 August. Madsen was a semi-celebrity at the time of his arrest, having made a name for himself with three self-built submarines and two crowdfunded manned space projects.

Burkø said his version of events – that Wall died when an accident filled the vessel with toxic exhaust fumes – was “not credible and not consistent with the following decision to dismember the body”. Madsen had changed his explanation for Wall’s death several times, Burkø noted. She said the court instead believed the prosecution’s theory that he had sexually tortured Wall to fulfil a violent sexual fantasy.

It is very unusual for a life sentence to be handed down for the murder of a single person in Denmark, where prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment serve an average of 16 years.

Madsen admitted to just one of the four charges, mistreatment of a corpse. He confessed in October to dismembering Wall’s body after divers found her head, legs and clothing in Køge Bay, claiming it had been necessary to cut it up in order to remove it from the submarine.

Over the course of the 11-day trial, spread over seven weeks, prosecutors presented their case in often horrific detail. But Madsen himself refused to go into detail in court, calling Wall’s death “a very, very traumatic event which I do not want to describe”.

When he was arrested in August, Madsen initially claimed to have dropped Wall off on land, but he almost immediately admitted that she had died onboard and that he had then “buried her at sea”. At first, he said her skull had been crushed by a heavy latch, but after the discovery of Wall’s head, he said she had been asphyxiated, claiming to have come up with his first story to spare Wall’s parents.

During the trial, the court heard from a woman to whom Madsen had confessed that he was “a psychopath, but a loving one”, a judgment backed up by a forensic psychiatric report that described Madsen as a “perverse polymorph” with “psychopathic traits”.

Such was the interest in the trial that the Copenhagen district court opened up a special room with a video link on some days to accommodate as many as 115 journalists from 15 countries. Wall’s parents attended the trial most days and quietly took notes from specially reserved seats beside the media section.

Madsen expressed his regret when asked to make a closing statement at the end of the trial. “The only thing I want to say is that I’m very, very sorry for what has happened,” he said. Madsen was also ordered to pay damages to Wall’s boyfriend.

25.04.2018. Mexico: Suspect in murder of journalist Javier Valdez arrested (agencies)

Mexican police have detained a suspect in the murder of an internationally acclaimed journalist who reported on the country's drug trade and organised crime. Javier Valdez was shot in May 2017 in broad daylight outside the offices of his publication, Riodoce, in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state.

On Monday, the weekly newspaper co-founded by Valdez reported that authorities had arrested 26 year-old male, Heriberto "N", whose alias is Koala.
Riodoce also said that Heriberto "N" was arrested in Tijuana, in the northern-state of Baja California, whilst driving the car used by the gunman in Valdez's killing. Heriberto "N" was also described as being "tied to organised crime" by Riodoce.

Alfonso Prida, secretary of the interior, took to Twitter to congratulate the state forces for the arrest. He said that federal agents in a joint operation had arrested the "presumed (person) responsible for the killing," but provided no details.

Jan-Albert Hootsen, Mexican representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ), described the arrest as a "welcome step".
In a statement, he also urged "the Mexican authorities to identify all those responsible for the killing, including the mastermind".
"Too often, investigations into the murders of Mexican journalists stall after low-level suspects have beenarrested, which allows impunity to thrive," said Hootsen. "If they can demonstrate that this is really the killer ... we'll need to know why he did it, what the motive was and who gave the order," Valdez's widow, Griselda told AFP news agency.

In 2011, the New York-based CPJ recognised Valdez's work by presenting him the the Freedom of Expression Award. In March 2018, the United Nations and AFP launched a new award to recognise journalists who lost their lives to cover human rights abuses in Mexico.

Since 2000, more than 100 journalists have been murdered in Mexico, which was considered the most dangerous place to be a journalist in 2017 - ahead of Iraq and Syria - with 14 deaths, according to the Press Emblem Campaign (PEC).

10.04.2018. SYRIA. Syrian government sued over US journalist Marie Colvin’s death (The New York Times)

The family of the US journalist Marie Colvin who was killed in Syria is suing the Syrian government over her death. The suit, filed in Washington, DC, on behalf of her family, says it has insider testimony from a Syrian intelligence defector who confirms the journalist was targeted and regime officials celebrated her death. Marie Colvin, who had secretly entered Syrian territory to report on the war, was killed by artillery fire on Feb 22, 2012, in the city of Homs while she was reporting on the Syrian conflict. Here is the story of Anna Barnard for the New York Times

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A Skype call captured the artillery barrage that killed an American war reporter, Marie Colvin, on Feb. 22, 2012: thundering shells, people rushing for cover, screams of pain. Then a shout: “She’s dead.”

Later that day, according to a Syrian defector, a military intelligence officer who had ordered the surveillance and shelling of journalists expressed grim satisfaction: “Marie Colvin was a dog and now she’s dead. Let the Americans help her now.”

The call and the defector’s account are among a trove of materials that lawyers for Ms. Colvin’s family have presented to a judge in Washington in a wrongful-death suit they filed in 2016 against the Syrian government and nine Syrian security officials. The judge, Amy Berman Jackson of the Federal District Court, partly unsealed the filings on Monday.

The lawyers say that the records provide the strongest evidence to date that Syrian forces led by President Bashar al-Assad targeted foreign journalists who were chronicling the mounting horrors in Syria, and Syrian civilians helping the reporters to gather information.

The filings, nearly 200 in total, are part of a far larger cache of some 700,000 records that have been smuggled out of Syria by defectors, activists and others and meticulously collected by the Committee for International Justice and Accountability, which wants to build war-crimes cases against the Syrian government.

“These documents allow us to reconstruct the broader policy planning that identified media workers as targets from very early on in the conflict,” said Scott Gilmore, a lawyer for the Colvin family. “They also lay out the command and control structure and reveal things that even Syria experts don’t know.”

It is impossible to independently verify the documents, but numerous experts, including diplomats, government officials and academic researchers, have vouched for the work of the committee, which was founded by William H. Wiley, a Canadian war-crimes investigator.

Ms. Colvin, a native of Long Island who was 56 when she died, was a veteran observer of numerous conflicts and wrote for The Sunday Times of London. Another journalist — Rémi Ochlik, 28, a French freelance photojournalist — died in the same attack that killed her, in the besieged Baba Amr neighborhood in the city of Homs.

Syrian officials have contended that journalists operating outside of government-controlled territory, as Ms. Colvin did, violated the law. “It’s a war and she came illegally to Syria, she worked with the terrorists, and because she came illegally, she’s been responsible for everything that befell on her,” Mr. Assad told NBC News in 2016, denying that Ms. Colvin had been targeted.

The Syrian government has not responded to the Colvin family’s lawsuit.

The documents appear to reveal the workings of the Central Crisis Management Cell, a committee reporting to Mr. Assad that was created to counter the uprisings that broke out across Syria in 2011.

In early 2012, witnesses described indiscriminate, non-targeted shelling of Baba Amr, a neighborhood in Homs where opposition activists had set up a media center to communicate with journalists.

One document shows how military and security forces intercepted communications between journalists and the activists. Intelligence officers passed on information about a journalist for Al Jazeera to a military special forces unit with the instruction, “Take the necessary measures.”

Lawyers are also citing several sworn witness accounts. One is from a defector, whom the lawyers code-named Ulysses, who chronicled the contemptuous remarks about Ms. Colvin made by the intelligence officer, Maj. Gen. Rafik Shahadah.

Ulysses, who remains in exile, told the lawyers that the military had ordered an attack on Ms. Colvin and her colleagues as part of a broader effort — directed from the top and laid out in the documents — to track, arrest and target demonstrators, coordinators and “those who tarnish the image of Syria” by talking to journalists and other foreigners.

Ulysses also testified that Syria’s powerful intelligence chief, Ali Mamlouk, received information from “friendly Lebanese officials” that foreign journalists were crossing the Syrian border to reach Homs and instructed the commander of the military-security committee in the central Syrian city to “capture the journalists” and “take all necessary measures.” Ulysses said that phrase customarily “authorized killing if needed.”

Two additional witnesses appeared to corroborate such a strategy.

One is Abdel Majid Barakat, a former data manager of the Central Crisis Management Cell who eventually defected.

Mr. Barakat saw documents that identified Syrians providing information to journalists as a top national security threat demanding a lethal response. He said he heard discussions of plans to fabricate evidence of rebels attacking civilians. He quit when he concluded there was no intention of reform, fleeing Syria with USB drives and paper documents bandaged to his torso under his clothes. (He defected several weeks before the journalists were killed.)

Another witness — Anwar Malek, an Algerian member of an Arab League monitoring mission — said he quit the mission after coming to believe that members were acting as agents for the government and removing evidence of government attacks on civilians, including the case of a 5-year-old boy killed by a sniper, from reports.

Mr. Malek described conversations in Homs in January 2012 with a member of the crisis committee, Deputy Defense Minister Assef Shawkat, Mr. Assad’s brother-in-law. He said Mr. Shawkat told him that it was necessary to kill civilians to defeat “the terrorists,” that “he would have been able to destroy Baba Amr in 10 minutes if there were not any video cameras” and that foreign journalists reporting from Baba Amr were “agents” of Israel and other countries, who should be targeted.

“‘For us, these are terrorists,’” Mr. Malek quoted him as saying. “They are targets for our military services and our security forces.”

Mr. Malek added that when Mr. Shawkat learned he had visited the media center, he pressed him to disclose its exact location; Mr. Malek demurred.

Soon after, Mr. Malek concluded that the mission was compromised and resigned. He said he received a death threat over the phone in his Homs hotel room, and his convoy to Damascus was shot at. The government blamed rebels, but Mr. Malek believed the attack was staged by the government.

Less than a month later, Syrian activists brought in Ms. Colvin and a British journalist, Paul Conroy, through a mile-long, four-foot-wide water pipe. Soon after, Ulysses said, an informant told intelligence officials that the journalists were at the activists’ media center and described its rough location.

The two reporters agreed the shelling was “merciless” and “dire,” the most intense they had ever faced, Mr. Conroy told the lawyers. On Feb. 21, Ms. Colvin issued a live report from the media center, giving a searing account of the plight of civilians.

That, Ulysses said, allowed the government to use surveillance equipment to pinpoint the location, matching the informant’s report. He recalled the deputy head of the Computer and Signals Section of Branch 261 of the military intelligence department in Homs saying, “There was a broadcast tonight from the same location.” Then the official added: “The boss is very happy.”

Among those overseeing the operation, Ulysses said, was Maher al-Assad, the president’s brother, commander of the powerful Fourth Division of the Republican Guard and a member of the crisis-management committee.

The next morning, Mr. Conroy said, the pattern of shelling changed. Instead of the saturation waves of shelling across the whole neighborhood, strikes alternated on each side of the house hosting the media center, getting closer each time. He recognized it as a technique called bracketing, or “walking in”: A forward observer reports back how close the a shell hits to the target and corrections are made.

The house then took direct hits. On the Skype call, which involved Syrian media activists, as well as a journalist from Al Jazeera, Mr. Conroy can be heard calling: “I can’t move! I need a tourniquet.”

Mr. Conroy stumbled outside and saw Ms. Colvin and Mr. Ochlik dead.

“Her head was buried in concrete and her feet were buried in rubble,” he said.

The others eventually made it back to Lebanon.

Back in Homs, General Shehadeh was soon promoted to head the military intelligence department for the whole country. The leader of a pro-government militia charged with developing informants inside Baba Amr, Khaled al-Fares, received a black Hyundai Genesis.



It was a reward, Ulysses said, from the president’s brother.

14.03.2018. INDIA. Arrest in editor’s killing beginning of road to justice

Over six months after the cold-blooded murder of senior journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bangalore, India, an arrest was made of the first accused KT Naveen Kumar. The IFJ urges the Indian authorities to step up the investigation to arrest and prosecute all responsible people for the killing.

KT Naveen Kumar, a member of a hard-line Hindu group the Sanatan Santha, was arrested by the Special Investigation team (SIT) on February 18 on suspicion of supplying the weapons used for the shooting. He is also suspected to have surveyed and pointed out Lankesh’s house to a group of killers who came from outside Karnataka to carry out the killing.

Naveen Kumar was produced before the magistrate’s court on March 12 and was remanded in judicial custody for 15 days. He will also undergo a narco-analysis test to understand the depth of his knowledge about the conspiracy to kill Lankesh.

Lankesh, 55, a respected veteran journalist and editor of a Kannada language weekly newspaper Gauri Lankesh Patrike and outspoken critic of Hindu nationalists, was shot dead outside her home in Rajarajeshwarinagar in northern Bengaluru, Karnataka, as she returned from work on September 5, 2017. Three unidentified gunmen on a motorbike had fled after firing at least seven shots at her as she entered through the gate of her home. Lankesh died on the spot. Despite nationwide protests, and repeated commitment from the authorities, the police had failed to arrest anyone for more than six months.

The IFJ said: “While the IFJ welcomes the arrest in the murder of Gauri Lankesh, we demand the authorities step up the investigation. The culture of impunity in India will continue to run rife unless immediate action is taken by the government. All those responsible, including the masterminds must be arrested and prosecuted.”

31.01.2018. COLOMBIA. Colombian man sentenced to 58 years in jail for 2015 murder of radio director and wife

A Colombian judge sentenced Yean Arlex Buenaventura to 58 years and 3 months in jail for the 2015 murder of journalist Luis Peralta Cuellar and his wife, Sofía Quintero. According to the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP), which represented the victims in court, this is the highest sentence ever handed down in the country for a crime against freedom of expression.

“For FLIP, this is an exemplary ruling punishing crimes against press freedom. However, it should also be an incentive for the investigation to advance and for the intellectual authors of this murder to be identified,” the organization wrote on Twitter.

The judge passed down the sentence for the material author of the crime “after recognizing that Peralta’s murder was motivated by his work as a journalist,” according to FLIP.

Peralta Cuellar, 63-year-old director and owner of radio station Linda Estéreo, was shot along with his wife on Feb. 14, 2015 in Doncello in the department of Caquetá. The attack happened outside his home, which was also his station’s office. Quintero died several months later from her injuries, Caracol Radio reported.

The journalist reported on topics related to administrative corruption, state contracting and the extraction of petroleum, according to FLIP. He also announced his candidacy for mayor of Doncello in early 2015, according to El Espectador.

A judge convicted Buenaventura, alias “El mono,” in December 2017, according to RCN Radio.

Following Buenaventura’s capture on March 4, 2015, FLIP said Peralta Cuellar had received threats days before his murder, but did not tell authorities, according to El Espectador.

In 2015, the year of Peralta Cuellar’s murder, Colombia was one of the deadliest countries in Latin America for journalists, according to a year-end report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). However, the country dropped off the organization’s Global Impunity Index that same year as convictions against murderers of journalists increased. The index lists the countries in which murderers of journalists most frequently go free.

Still, FLIP has warned about continued physical attacks on journalists, as well as more “sophisticated forms” of censorship in the country. In its 2016 annual report, the organization also called for improvement to the Mechanism for Protection of Journalists, including more judicial convictions of those responsible for attacks on journalists.

27.01.2018. BRAZIL. Abraji activates Tim Lopes Program to Protect Journalists to investigate murder of radio host

The Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) announced on Jan. 24 that members of the organization will investigate the murder of radio journalist Jefferson Pureza Lopes, who was shot dead on Jan. 17 in the city of Edealina, in the state of Goiás.

This will be the first response of the Tim Lopes Program for the Protection of Journalists, launched in September 2016 to investigate murders, assassination attempts and abductions of media professionals, and to continue the reports interrupted by the perpetrators.

"We are collecting information and I believe that a visit to the site may give us further aid for other visits if it is clear that the murder is linked to his activity as a radio journalist,” Angelia Nunes, program coordinator, told the Knight Center.

According to Abraji, Nunes and Rafael Oliveira, a member of the team, will arrive in Edealina, a municipality with 3,700 inhabitants in the Central-West region of Brazil, on Jan. 28 and will begin the Program’s investigation of the case.

Pureza Lopes was killed with three shots to the head inside his house on the night of the 17th. He hosted the program “A Voz do Povo” on Beira Rio FM radio, in which he denounced alleged irregularities in public administration and criticized municipal and regional authorities.

He had been receiving threats for at least two years for his work, according to what some friends and colleagues told the press after the murder. There were two fires at the radio station he had been working at for the last two years, and the latest one, in November 2017, completely destroyed the equipment and the physical structure of the site, which was being rebuilt.

Journalists on their way to Edealina conducted a pre-clearance investigation into the case, which included a verification of the risk conditions to which they would be subjected, Daniel Bramatti, president of Abraji, told the Knight Center. "The main precaution is the notification of local authorities, who will be responsible for ensuring the safety of professionals."

Abraji sent a letter informing the governor of Goiás, Marconi Perillo, and the State Secretary of Public Security, Ricardo Balestreri, about the two journalists’ trip to investigate the murder. In the document, the organization calls for "special attention to the security of the reporting team" and reinforces "the call for the Public Security Secretariat to prioritize this investigation, since it is a possible attack on freedoms of the press and of expression.”

Bramatti said the governor and the secretary have not yet spoken about the journalists' visit to Edealina. The local law firm of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) "expressed solidarity with our program and made itself available," Nunes said.

If the investigation finds that the murder of Pureza Lopes is linked to his work as a journalist, a team of reporters from various media outlets in the country will travel to Edealina to carry out reports on the topics that the radio journalist addressed during his program. "Some outlets and professionals have already been contacted," Bramatti said, noting that "the composition of the network will only be announced if on-site verification proves that its formation is indeed necessary."

The Brazilian initiative, funded by Open Society Foundations, was conceived by journalist Marcelo Beraba, Abraji's first president. He was inspired by the Arizona Project of the American organization Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). In response to a 1976 car bomb blast that killed reporter Don Bolles in Phoenix, the journalist's colleagues traveled to Phoenix to complete their investigative work.

The name of the Brazilian project is a tribute to TV Globo investigative reporter Tim Lopes, who was brutally murdered in 2002 while working on a report on funk dances organized by drug traffickers in a favela in Rio de Janeiro. His death had a big impact on the Brazilian press and motivated the creation of the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism.

"What we hope is to contribute to an end to impunity in crimes against journalists and communications workers, in order to encourage the reduction of these occurrences," said the president of Abraji. "We have clarity that this is just one step on a long journey."

27.01.2018. BRAZIL. Abraji activates Tim Lopes Program to Protect Journalists to investigate murder of radio host

The Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) announced on Jan. 24 that members of the organization will investigate the murder of radio journalist Jefferson Pureza Lopes, who was shot dead on Jan. 17 in the city of Edealina, in the state of Goiás.

This will be the first response of the Tim Lopes Program for the Protection of Journalists, launched in September 2016 to investigate murders, assassination attempts and abductions of media professionals, and to continue the reports interrupted by the perpetrators.

"We are collecting information and I believe that a visit to the site may give us further aid for other visits if it is clear that the murder is linked to his activity as a radio journalist,” Angelia Nunes, program coordinator, told the Knight Center.

According to Abraji, Nunes and Rafael Oliveira, a member of the team, will arrive in Edealina, a municipality with 3,700 inhabitants in the Central-West region of Brazil, on Jan. 28 and will begin the Program’s investigation of the case.

Pureza Lopes was killed with three shots to the head inside his house on the night of the 17th. He hosted the program “A Voz do Povo” on Beira Rio FM radio, in which he denounced alleged irregularities in public administration and criticized municipal and regional authorities.

He had been receiving threats for at least two years for his work, according to what some friends and colleagues told the press after the murder. There were two fires at the radio station he had been working at for the last two years, and the latest one, in November 2017, completely destroyed the equipment and the physical structure of the site, which was being rebuilt.

Journalists on their way to Edealina conducted a pre-clearance investigation into the case, which included a verification of the risk conditions to which they would be subjected, Daniel Bramatti, president of Abraji, told the Knight Center. "The main precaution is the notification of local authorities, who will be responsible for ensuring the safety of professionals."

Abraji sent a letter informing the governor of Goiás, Marconi Perillo, and the State Secretary of Public Security, Ricardo Balestreri, about the two journalists’ trip to investigate the murder. In the document, the organization calls for "special attention to the security of the reporting team" and reinforces "the call for the Public Security Secretariat to prioritize this investigation, since it is a possible attack on freedoms of the press and of expression.”

Bramatti said the governor and the secretary have not yet spoken about the journalists' visit to Edealina. The local law firm of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) "expressed solidarity with our program and made itself available," Nunes said.

If the investigation finds that the murder of Pureza Lopes is linked to his work as a journalist, a team of reporters from various media outlets in the country will travel to Edealina to carry out reports on the topics that the radio journalist addressed during his program. "Some outlets and professionals have already been contacted," Bramatti said, noting that "the composition of the network will only be announced if on-site verification proves that its formation is indeed necessary."

The Brazilian initiative, funded by Open Society Foundations, was conceived by journalist Marcelo Beraba, Abraji's first president. He was inspired by the Arizona Project of the American organization Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). In response to a 1976 car bomb blast that killed reporter Don Bolles in Phoenix, the journalist's colleagues traveled to Phoenix to complete their investigative work.

The name of the Brazilian project is a tribute to TV Globo investigative reporter Tim Lopes, who was brutally murdered in 2002 while working on a report on funk dances organized by drug traffickers in a favela in Rio de Janeiro. His death had a big impact on the Brazilian press and motivated the creation of the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism.

"What we hope is to contribute to an end to impunity in crimes against journalists and communications workers, in order to encourage the reduction of these occurrences," said the president of Abraji. "We have clarity that this is just one step on a long journey."

13.01.2018. GUATEMALA. Guatemala congressman arrested, accused in murders of two journalists

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The Guatemala attorney general’s office confirmed on Saturday the arrest of congressman Julio Juarez Ramirez, who is accused of plotting the murders of two journalists in 2015.

Prosecutors and investigators with the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala said the politician orchestrated an attack on journalists Danilo Efraín Zapón López and Federico Benjamín Salazar Gerónimo, who were killed in March 2015.

Juarez was arrested on Saturday morning near his home in the southern district of Suchitepéquez and transferred to Guatemala City, the capital of the Central American nation. He maintained his innocence as he reported to court on Saturday afternoon.

“He who owes nothing fears nothing, that’s why I‘m here in the name of God, who will clear up everything,” Juarez told reporters. “Talk to the press of Suchitepéquez and you will realize that I never, never had problems with the press.”

Juarez served as mayor of the southern city of San Antonio La Union from 2012 to 2015, before winning a seat in Congress the next year. According to investigators, Zapon, who was a journalist for the newspaper Prensa Libre, was attacked because he was working on a story about corruption in the Juarez’s administration.

Last December, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Juarez under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act for his alleged role in the attack.



Local media reported in 2015 that Juarez described himself as a friend of Zapon’s and admitted to meeting the journalist the day he was killed.

“That’s why they want to investigate me, but I am free of any involvement with him,” Juarez told local media.

15.12.2017. PARAGUAY. Mastermind convicted in 2014 murder of Paraguayan journalist Pablo Medina

A Paraguayan court convicted a former mayor in the 2014 death of ABC Color regional correspondent Pablo Medina and his assistant Antonia Almada.

On Dec. 14, Vilmar Acosta Marques, the former mayor of Ypejhú, was found guilty of being the instigator of the murders, according to EFE. The sentence will be announced on Dec. 19. The public prosecutor requested 40 years, consisting of 30 years in prison and 10 years of security measures.

EFE reported that according to prosecutors, Medina acknowledged he was being watched by hitmen under Vilmar Acosta.

Following the murders of Pablo Medina and Almada, Acosta fled to Brazil. He was apprehended in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in March 2015, but his extradition was delayed because he claimed to be a Brazilian citizen. In November of that year, Brazil approved his extradition.

This is not the first conviction in the case.

In March 2016, Arnaldo Cabrera, a former driver for Acosta, was sentenced to five years in prison for failing to communicate an offense. However, he was acquitted of Medina and Almada’s murders.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) called for the courts to hand down the maximum sentence for Vilmar Acosta

06.12.2017. Three charged in Malta with murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia (The Guardian/PEC)

Three Maltese men have been charged for the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the investigative journalist who was killed by a car bomb last month.

The three suspects include two brothers, George and Alfred Degiorgio, and Vincent Muscat. The suspects were also charged with criminal use of explosives, being involved in organised crime, and criminal conspiracy.

All three pleaded not guilty to the charges at a hearing late on Tuesday.

They were were among ten people who were arrested in dawn raids on Monday morning in connection to the police’s investigation into the killing.

Joseph Muscat, Malta’s prime minister, promised in a press conference on Monday that he would not leave any stone unturned in finding who ordered the journalist to be killed and who carried out the attack. Muscat was a common subject for Caruana Galizia, who was a relentless campaigner against corruption in Malta.

The journalist’s murder sent shockwaves across Europe and has focused a spotlight on allegations by lawmakers in the European parliament that the rule of law has deteriorated sharply in the small Mediterranean country.

Caruana Galizia’s family has filed a legal claim against Malta’s police force and has alleged that the investigation has not been independent or impartial, because of connections between a senior police investigator and a government minister. Both were subjects of Caruana Galizia’s blog.

The police said on Tuesday night that an unspecified number of other suspects who were arrested on Monday would be released on bail.

Searches that were conducted during dawn raids had yielded a number of items that would help with ongoing investigations, the police said. The investigation was also aided by the FBI, Europol, and the National Investigations Bureau of Finland.

There were no new details about how the three suspects might be connected to the crime or the evidence that has been collected against them.

According to a report in the Times of Malta, Vince Muscat, one of the alleged killers, was known to police because of previous legal altercations. George Degiorgio was previously charged in court with possession of unlicensed firearms, drugs and tools that could be used to pick locks. The newspaper also reported that investigators had allegedly focused on the suspects because of telephone intercepts, including from a mobile phone that allegedly triggered the bomb.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has joined its affiliate, the Institute of Maltese Journalists (IMJ), in welcoming the charges against three suspects in the killing of investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia, but has also highlighted the need for an impartial investigation into the evidence.

In a statement, the IMJ has welcomed the recent developments and showed appreciation for the work done over the last weeks by the Maltese authorities with the support of foreign experts, but has also called on the government to consider tougher penalties against a person convicted of a crime, assault, threats and/or intimidation against journalists, in order to avoid impunity.

IMJ urges prudence and waits for the compilation of the evidence which is expected to commence in the coming days.

02.11.2017. World media chiefs call for EU inquiry into Maltese journalist's murder

The heads of eight of the world’s largest news organisations have called for the European commission to investigate the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and the independence of the media in Malta.

The editors and directors have written a letter to Frans Timmermans, the first vice-president of the commission, which describes the murder of Caruana Galizia as “shocking” and an “appalling reminder” of the dangers that journalists and citizens practising journalism face as they try to uncover corruption and criminal behaviour.

The signatories include Katharine Viner, the editor-in-chief of the Guardian, Dean Baquet, executive editor of the New York Times, Jérôme Fenoglio, director of Le Monde, and James Harding, the director of news and current affairs at the BBC.

Caruana Galizia was killed last month by a car bomb near her home. She had led an investigation into corruption in Malta using the Panama Papers – with the government and the opposition implicated – and the readership for her blogposts often exceeded the circulation of the country’s newspapers.

No group or individual has come forward to claim responsibility for the attack. Thousands of people attended a rally after Caruana Galizia’s death demanding justice for the journalist. Her son said the island was a “mafia state”.

The editors and directors say the murder cannot be allowed to achieve the “clear objective of silencing her investigation into corruption at the highest levels in Malta”. They also point to analysis by the European commission that raised concerns about the lack of political independence of the Maltese media and that it was the “only EU country that has such extensive media ownership by the political parties”.

Other editors to sign the letter are Wolfgang Krach of Süddeutsche Zeitung, Lionel Barber of the Financial Times, Mario Calabresi at La Repubblica and Antonio Caño, of El Pais.

The letter to Timmermans adds: “Daphne’s murder, combined with the structural issues the commission identified, demonstrate the need for a full investigation into the state of media independence in Malta by the commission.

“We ask that you use your office to engage the Maltese government in urgent dialogue to ensure that it is aware of its obligations as a member of the European Union to uphold the rule of law, and to maintain press freedom and free expression.

“The murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia demonstrates the danger that journalists face in the pursuit of truth. It also demonstrates the fear that the corrupt and powerful have of being exposed.

“We request that you use all powers at your disposal to ensure that Daphne’s death is fully investigated, and to send a clear signal of support to journalists working in the public interest, in Malta and all over the world.”

01.11.2017. Political leaders must end demonization of journalists to stop increased attacks – UN experts

Geneva (1 November 2017) – The world is witnessing a “downward spiral of attacks” on journalists, spurred on by hate speech even from senior politicians, two UN experts have warned. Speaking ahead of 2 November, which has been designated International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, the Special Rapporteurs on arbitrary, summary and extrajudicial executions, Agnes Callamard, and on freedom of expression, David Kaye, called on States to act:

“So far this year, the world has lost more than 30 journalists to targeted attacks. In addition to taking individual lives and depriving family members of their loved ones, these attacks aim to destroy the public watchdog role of journalism that is essential to democratic society.

The attacks on journalism are widespread and deplorable. Assaults on investigative reporters, including independent journalists, freelancers and bloggers, undermine official accountability and help entrench corruption and other abuses of power.

When authorities fail to follow up such attacks with independent and impartial investigations that can bring perpetrators to justice, the killers and their allies achieve their objectives.

The attacks need to stop. So too does the public demonization of reporting and specific media outlets and reporters by political leaders at the highest levels.

Whipping up anger and distrust, or redefining journalism as a crime akin to terrorism, are steps on the path to physical attack. The end of impunity begins with a commitment at the most senior levels to stop the hateful rhetoric, end detentions and prosecutions of journalists, and take steps to bring all attackers to justice.

Our societies cannot afford to continue this downward spiral of attacks against journalists. We urge all States - in word and action – to devote resources to reverse this trend.”

ENDS

Ms Agnes Callamard is Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; and Mr. David Kaye is Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

01.11.2017. IFJ launches 21-day campaign to fight against impunity for crimes against journalists

The IFJ’s 2017 campaign to end impunity kicks off on 2 November - the UN Day against impunity for crimes targeting journalists.

The 2017 campaign, to last until 23 November - the eighth commemoration of the Maguindanao massacre which claimed 32 journalists’ lives - calls for strengthening the international legal framework and national protection mechanisms to ensure greater media safety. It focuses on 7 countries Mexico, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Ukraine.

While the UN Day to end impunity for crime against journalists by the United Nations General Assembly in 2013 has helped put the issue of media protection on the international agenda, the IFJ has expressed its concern that there have been no concrete measures to investigate incidents of violence against journalists in many countries around the world.

“The levels of violence in journalism around the world make a mockery of the high-minded intentions behind initiatives such as the UN Day to end impunity,” said IFJ President Philippe Leruth. “As long as they are not acted upon by holding accountable those who commit these crimes, there will remain an open season on journalists and media professionals.”

According to IFJ statistics, 56 journalists have lost their lives while carrying out their duties since the beginning of the year. Today only one out of 10 killings of journalists is investigated. The situation for non-fatal attacks on journalists is even worse. Governments fail in their duty to hunt down the harassers, the attackers, the killers of media workers. Impunity not only endangers journalists, it imperils democracy and compromises hopes for peace and development.

“Legal guarantees exist for the protection of journalists as civilians which states are duty bound to enforce under domestic and international law”, said Leruth.

To this end, the IFJ has made a number of propositions at a consultation meeting on the safety of journalists convened by UNESCO and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on 29 June in Geneva. They include steps to strengthen the international legal framework related to journalist safety to account not only for the professional risks that journalists and media workers take, but also for the unique value of journalism in strengthening the rule of law.

The IFJ has also supported outreach programmes to engage other stakeholders, such as law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and judges on the role of journalists and their own contribution to its promotion for the good of society. It also argued in favour of protection mechanisms which have the confidence of journalists and their organisations to provide safety to those whose lives are at risk on account of their professional activities.

The latter is at the heart of the IFJ campaign on Mexico, where the Federation is engaging the European Union institutions to leverage their influence as Mexico’s partners in ensuring the national protection mechanism for journalists fulfils its role in one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.

“We believe that the European Union has a part to play in putting pressure on to respect basic human rights, including press freedom. That is why we are urging the EU to work with our affiliate, the SNRP and civil society to ensure Mexico’s protection mechanism for journalists is fit for purpose,” added IFJ Secretary General Anthony Bellanger.

For more information on the IFJ campaign against impunity visit the website.

31.10.2017. There can be no press freedom where journalists work in fear, end impunity! (EFJ/IFJ)

Impunity is when threats, attacks and crimes against journalists go unpunished. It results in a high level of fear, intimidation, censorship and self-censorship that undermines press freedom, the public right to know and leaves victims and their relatives powerless.

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the International Federation of Journalists’ (IFJ) campaign to #endimpunity, which aims at holding governments and de facto governments accountable for their impunity records and denouncing any crimes targeting journalists that remain unpunished. Murder is the highest form of these crimes but all attacks targeting journalists that remain unpunished must be denounced.

In Europe, the EFJ has registered since April 2015 the following 12 major cases of impunity on the Council of Europe platform for the protection of journalism and safety of journalists. When the authorities replies, their responses are published under the alert in the section “States replies”.

Russia: 5 cases of impunity

Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya was found shot dead in a presumed contract killing in her apartment in Moscow. On 9 June 2014, the Moscow’s highest criminal court sentenced five men to prison for the murder of the journalist. Two organisers of the team received life sentences in prison. However, the case remains unresolved until now as the investigation has still not revealed who was the mastermind and what was the motive for the murder.

On 18 May 2013, journalist Nikolai Potapov was gunned down in Selsovet. Authorities took suspects into custody shortly after the crime and said they had identified the mastermind behind the killing. However they did not release that person’s name.

Independent journalist, Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev, was shot dead in Dagestan on 9 July 2013. The investigation into the journalist’s murder was closed a year later, on 30 July 2014, without any arrests. The appeals against its closure had no effect. It was only as a result of international pressure, that the decision to close the investigation was rescinded on 16 September 2014.

Investigative journalist Timur Kuashev was found dead in Russian Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria. He was missing from his home on 31 July 2014 and his body was discovered the following day in a suburb of Nalchik, the capital of the autonomous Kabardino-Balkar Republic. The cause of his death is still unclear, but there is a suspicion that he was murdered as he had reported death threats. His body was found in a wooded area but there was no sign of bruising, violence or gunshot wounds.

Journalist Mikhail Beketov died of heart failure in a Moscow hospital on 8 April 2013 after choking on food. In November 2008, Beketov was the victim of a savage beating by unknown attackers who left him for dead. He lost three fingers and part of his leg and suffered long term brain damage. The journalist had a breathing tube inserted in a life-saving surgery following the assault and the operation left scars that caused food to block the airflow to his lungs, eventually leading to heart failure. To date, no one has been arrested.

Ukraine: 5 cases

TV journalist Volodymyr Holovatiy and his cameraman were attacked on 10 June 2016 in Berdyansk. They were on assignment when unidentified men in military uniform attacked them. The two were admitted to the hospital for treatment, where doctors diagnosed a brain contusion in the case of Volodymyr Holovatiy. To date, the crime remains unpunished and no one has been arrested.

On 24 May 2014, on the Sloviansk southern front, Italian reporterAndrea Rocchelli, accompanied by Russian journalist and human rights activistAndrei Mironovand French photographer William Roguelon, were the victims of mortar fire that killed Rocchelli and Mironov on the spot and inflicted serious leg injuries on Roguelon. An investigation launched in Ukraine concluded that no evidence exist to find those responsible for this attack.

On 16 September 2000, investigative journalist Georgiy Gongadze disappeared; his beheaded body was found six weeks later. After years of investigations, four former officers of the Ukrainian Secret Service were convicted, but no one was sentenced for ordering and instigating his killing.

In February 2014, journalist Viacheslav Veremii died of wounds he sustained in an attack allegedly perpetrated by the” tityshki”, a group of youths suspected of working with the security forces under the former regime in Ukraine. He was admitted to hospital on 18 February 2014 and later died.

Journalist Oleksandr Kuchynsk was found murdered along with his wife on 29 November 2014 in the village of Bogorodychne near Slovyansk in war-torn Donetsk Oblast. Officials said that the couple was stabbed to death.

Turkey: 1 case

On 19 January 2007, Hrant Dink, was shot dead on the street in front of his office in Istanbul. The murderer, a 17-year-old Turkish nationalist, and     some of his accomplices were apprehended and imprisoned but not all parties involved in the crime have been investigated.

Azerbaijan: 1 case

On 2 March 2005, journalist Elmar Huseynov was gunned down in front of his apartment in Baku following a planned attack. In April 2005, Azerbaijani investigators announced the identification of six Georgian suspects related to this murder, which was requalified from “premeditated murder” to an “act of terrorism” aiming to destabilise the country. Twelve years later, the authorities have not been able to bring anyone to justice for this case.

30.10.2017. Stop attacking the media—UNESCO message for International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, 2 November

Ninety percent of cases concerning the killing of journalists remain unpunished, according to information Member States provided to the Organization in 2017. This is a slight improvement compared to last year, when countries’ answers to UNESCO’s written enquires indicated that only 8% of such cases led to a conviction.

“Justice is a cornerstone of a free society. It dissuades those who threaten freedom of expression and emboldens those who stand to defend it,” said Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova. “This is why injustice against journalists is so costly for all societies.”

Between 2006 and 2016, UNESCO condemned the killing of 930 journalists. Of these, 102 journalists were killed in 2016 alone, according to UNESCO’s latest figures, which appear in the forthcoming World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development: Global Report 2017/2018.*

The majority of journalists killed in 2016 (94%) were local journalists, reporting local stories. Half of the killings (50%) occurred in countries where there was no armed conflict, compared to 47% in 2015.

The proportion of female journalists killed rose from 5% in 2006 to 10% in 2016. Women also continue to face specific threats, including online harassment.

In 2017, as part of its efforts to monitor the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity, UNESCO invited the 62 Member States where cases remained unresolved to provide information on the status of judicial investigations. Of these, 46 responded (74%), with 41 providing specific information on the status of judicial investigations into the killing of media workers condemned by the Director-General of UNESCO.

These numbers confirm a steady increase in the level of recognition among Member States of UNESCO’s monitoring and reporting mechanism: in 2016, the response rate was 68%, in 2015, 47%, and in 2014, just 27%.

This improvement shows growing willingness on the part of countries to share information on the subject. It is, however, woefully insufficient to achieve the objectives of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (IDEI), observed annually on 2 November.

“The news is filled with reports of our colleagues, journalists getting killed, wounded, imprisoned all over the world,” said UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Freedom of Expression and Journalist Safety, Christiane Amanpour. “We, the press, must continue to fight for an end to impunity.”

On the occasion of the Day, on 2 November UNESCO and its partners will launch a global campaign in association with media from all over the world and a social media campaign #MyFightAgainstImpunity.**

On 4 December, UNESCO will hold a one-day seminar to commemorate the Day in Colombo, Sri Lanka, entitled “Reinforcing regional cooperation to promote freedom of expression and the rule of law in Asia through ending impunity for crimes against journalists”.

The event will seek to advance dialogue and define strategies to strengthen regional cooperation on the safety of journalists and ending impunity in Asia. Organized by UNESCO and the Sri Lankan Ministry of Finance and Mass Media, the event will feature the participation of regional stakeholders, including representatives of national human rights commissions.

Regional and local events for the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists will be organized worldwide, including in Italy, Kenya, the Philippines, Senegal, Tunisia, the United States of America and many other countries.

In 2013, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/68/163, (link is external) which proclaimed 2 November as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. The Resolution urged Member States to implement definite measures countering the present culture of impunity. The date was chosen in commemoration of the assassination of two French journalists, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, in Mali on 2 November 2013.

Follow the International Day with the hashtags #EndImpunity and #JournoSafe.

* Illustrations of the key findings related to the safety of journalists from the forthcoming World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development Report: 2017/2018 Global Report are available at https://en.unesco.org/world-media-trends-2017 . The report is supported by the Government of Sweden.

**More information about, and a media kit for, International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists is available on en.unesco.org/endimpunity-2017. The media kit is available through this link (link is external)

30.10.2017. BURKINA FASO. France arrests brother of ex-Burkina president Compaore in connection with the murder of a journalist in december 1998 (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) - Francois Compaore, the younger brother of former Burkina Faso president Blaise Compaore, was taken into custody by French authorities on Sunday in connection with the murder of a journalist Norbert Zongo, his lawyer said.

The killing in 1998 of Norbert Zongo, who published Burkina Faso’s Independent newspaper, became a symbol of repression during Blaise Compaore’s 27-year rule, which ended in 2014 at the hands of a popular uprising.

Before his death, Zongo had been investigating the murder of a driver who worked for Francois Compaore, and his killing triggered violent protests.

Francois Compaore was arrested at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport after returning to France from Ivory Coast, where his brother lives in exile, his lawyer Pierre-Olivier Sur said in a statement.

Compaore will appear before a judge within 48 hours, he added.

Burkina Faso media said he was held on an arrest warrant issued by that country’s government. His lawyer said only it was an international arrest warrant.

French prosecutors could not immediately be reached for comment on the case.

Sur said the charges were politically motivated by a Burkinabe government unable to get its hands on Blaise Compaore, whom the Ivorian government refuses to extradite despite an international warrant for his arrest in connection with the 1987 murder of former president Thomas Sankara.

Burkina Faso’s uprising and subsequent elections raised hopes the coutry would finally reckon with past crimes, but some activists say the government of current president Roch Marc Christian Kabore has moved too slowly against former regime members, some of whom serve in the new administration.

Authorities opened a trial this week against allies of Blaise Compaore accused of leading a failed coup d‘etat in 2015, including the alleged mastermind, Compaore’s former spy chief General Gilbert Diendere.

24.10.2017. Daphne Caruana Galizia: Calls for Europol to investigate Malta reporter's murder

Europol should join the investigation into the murder of prominent Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, says the President of the European Parliament.

Antonio Tajani said Europol should take part in the inquiry "as part of an international investigation in which all police forces can work together to bring those responsible to justice".

He also said he expected the Maltese authorities "to spare no effort in getting to the bottom of what happened".

"Daphne's murder must not go unpunished," he said.

"How can we credibly claim to defend journalists around the world if we cannot even offer them protection and justice here at home," he added.

Ms Caruana Galizia, 53, had published leaked documents on alleged money laundering cases involving top Maltese officials.

She died when a car bomb exploded as she drove away from her home in Mosta last Monday.

In a statement, two Green MEPs, Eva Joly and Sven Giegold, said: "We want a serious investigation by the European Commission on Malta's respect of the European rules against money laundering."

They also alleged the "Maltese government has failed to take serious action against high level cases of money laundering in its country".

However, EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said in a letter to EU Greens MEPs that "based on the information available so far, there appear to be no grounds to suspect a systematic breach of Union law pertaining to the prevention of money laundering" in Malta.

She added, however, that the Commission has requested more information from the Maltese authorities on recent cases of alleged money laundering involving Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's chief of staff, Keith Allen Schembri.

For years, Ms Caruana Galizia had made detailed allegations of corruption against Mr Muscat's inner circle.

Following her death, her family accused Mr Muscat of filling his office with crooks and creating a culture of impunity.

He had turned Malta into a "mafia island", they alleged.

Malta's government has asked for assistance from the FBI, and from Dutch experts as it examines the case.

Mr Tajani says the European Parliament press room in Strasbourg will be named after Ms Caruana Galizia, in tribute to her.

11.10.2017. GUATEMALA: Sergio Cardona purgará 30 años de cárcel por asesinato de periodista Danilo López (Prensa Libre)

Sergio Waldemar Cardona Reyes fue condenado a 30 años de prisión inconmutables por el asesinato del periodista Danilo López —corresponsal de Prensa Libre—, pero fue absuelto por el crimen contra Federico Salazar, corresponsal de Radio Nuevo Mundo. Los otros dos implicados por el Ministerio Público (MP) quedaron en libertad.

La sentencia la dictó la tarde de este martes el Tribunal de Mayor Riesgo A contra Sergio Valdemar Cardona Reyes, quien fue encontrado culpable del delito de asesinato de los dos comunicadores.

El Tribunal también condenó a Germán Amilcar Morataya, a dos años de prisión por uso de nombre supuesto y absolvió a Artemio de Jesús Ramírez Torres.

Cardona Reyes y Morataya Beltrán estaban procesados por los delitos de asesinato y asociación ilícita, mientras que Ramírez Torres únicamente por asociación ilícita.

El Ministerio Público (MP) estableció que el objetivo de los sicarios era Danilo López, pero también asesinaron a Salazar y dejaron lesionado a Marvin Túnchez, reportero de un canal local.

Varios trabajos periodísticos de López habían destacado hechos de corrupción en municipalidades de esa región.

Por este caso también están siendo procesados los agentes de la Policía Nacional Civil (PNC) Jorge León Cabrera Solís y Luis Emerio Juárez Pichiyá. 

Según las investigaciones, los dos policías coordinaron el ataque contra los comunicadores. Su vinculación al caso se dio luego del análisis de los teléfonos celulares de otros integrantes de la estructura.

La Fiscalía sostiene que la estructura criminal que segó la vida de los periodistas contaba con sicarios, encargados de la planificación de los asesinatos e intermediarios. De acuerdo con las escuchas teléfonicas y la información de un colaborador eficaz, el crimen se habría pactado por Q25 mil.

De acuerdo con la Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala (Cicig), el ataque contra los periodistas se produjo en momentos en los que el diputado Julio Juárez tenía "contradicciones" con López respecto a la candidatura para alcalde de Cuyotenango, Suchitepéquez, por el partido Líder.

Juárez, quien tenía el apoyo de las bases partidarias y además designaba a los candidatos locales, se oponía a que el contratista Érick López Posadas fuera el aspirante a la comuna de Cuyotenango, y a quien, según la investigación, apoyaba el periodista López.

12.09.2017. COLOMBIA. Man sentenced to almost 50 years in prison for 2015 murder of Colombian journalist

Juan Camilo Ortiz was sentenced to 47 years, six months and two days in prison for murdering 31-year-old Colombian journalist Flor Alba Núñez Vargas, El Colombiano reported. On Sept. 8, after a nearly two-year trial in which the prosecution gathered 93 pieces of evidence pointing to Ortiz as the murderer of the journalist, the Third Criminal Court of the Specialized Circuit of the city of Neiva handed down the sentence against Ortiz after finding him guilty of the death of Núñez.

The young journalist died on Sept. 10, 2015, after receiving two shots in the back while entering the radio station La Preferida Stéreo, where she worked in Pitalito, municipality of Huila. She also collaborated with several television channels and newspapers, including Canal 6, Nación TV and the newspaper La Nación.

The man who shot her then fled on a motorcycle. Shortly after, on Sept. 27 of that same year, Juan Camilo Ortiz, alias "El Loco,” was arrested in Palmito, Sucre by order of the Office of the Prosecutor, El Espectador reported.

The prosecution accused Ortiz of the crimes of aggravated homicide and other charges. Ortiz allegedly acted with Jaumeth Albeiro Florez, alias "El Chory," whom the public prosecutor accused of being the driver of the motorcycle on which Ortiz fled after the murder. Flórez is still a fugitive, according to the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP for its acronym in Spanish).

According to Semana, for the prosecution, one of the main hypotheses for Núñez’s murder was personal revenge. In 2014, the journalist reported that Ortiz, accused by the public prosecutor's of being one of the hitmen who fired five times against veterinarian Juliette Henao in Pitalito, had been freed under house arrest by order of the judge on his case.

In her investigations, Núñez also reports on acts of corruption in local politics, as well as the growth of criminal gangs in the region.

One of her colleagues, who did not reveal her name, told Semana that the attack against the veterinarian was reported by several journalists, not only by Núñez. Regarding other investigations carried out by the journalist before her death, her colleague also said that "on the day she was killed she would report that a councilor and a mayoral candidate were forcing community mothers to vote for them."

For FLIP, this ruling is a partial victory. "The other perpetrator has not yet been brought to justice and no investigative strategy has been established to identify the intellectual authors of the crime," the organization said on its website.

Including Núñez, 153 journalists have been killed in the last 40 years in Colombia, according to FLIP. The foundation urged judicial authorities to continue investigating the journalist’s murder in order to find the intellectual authors behind her death.

24.07.2017. UKRAINE. Year After Reporter Killed in Ukraine, No Progress in Probe (New York Times)

After renowned journalist Pavel Sheremet was killed in a car bombing in central Kiev last year, Ukraine's president promised all-out efforts to solve the case. But as of Thursday's anniversary of his death, there has been no visible progress.

Instead, say Ukrainian journalists, the case is mired in either incompetence or deliberate inaction. In a country where violence against journalists is frequent, reporters feel more in danger than ever.

The killing of 44-year-old Sheremet, who was driving in central Kiev to appear on a morning radio show on July 20, 2016, was a shock that resonated far beyond Ukraine. The Belarusian native had received international awards and was widely lauded for bold reporting at home, where he was jailed for three months and then given a two-year prison suspended sentence in 1997. He later moved to Russia, where he worked for a TV station controlled by Putin critic Boris Berezovsky, then went to Ukraine to work at respected internet publication Ukrainska Pravda.

Ukrainska Pravda was long a thorn in the side of Ukraine's corruption-ridden elite. Its first editor, Heorhiy Gongadze, was found decapitated in 2000 and audio recordings later emerged that implicated then-President Leonid Kuchma in his killing.

The failure to find Sheremet's killer leaves Ukraine's journalists feeling imperiled.

"Lack of progress in the Sheremet case is better than any declaration to show how authorities really care about the safety of journalists," National Union of Journalists head Sergei Tomilenko said.

Sheremet's friends, colleagues and activists gathered Thursday morning around the time that Sheremet was killed. About 200 people laid flowers and left candles at the intersection where his car blew up before setting off to march to the presidential administration to express their frustration with the investigation. Some of the mourners spray-painted "Who killed Pavel?" on the sidewalk outside the presidential administration and plastered a posted with Sheremet's portrait at the entrance to National Police headquarters.

Police say the killing was committed carefully, making identifying suspects harder.

"Unfortunately, the criminal offense was committed with good quality, so the investigation has not yet found the person who can be reasonably suspected of involvement in the murder," Interior Ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko said.

In Washington, the State Department said it was regrettable no one had been held accountable. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the U.S. was urging Ukraine "to use all available resources to bring those responsible to justice."

Tomilenko's group told an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe freedom-of-speech conference last month that more than 800 journalists have faced violence or threats in Ukraine since 2014. Although about half the incidents were connected to the 2014 mass protests that drove a Moscow-friendly president into exile or with the conflicts in Crimea and eastern Ukraine that followed, about 400 cases have happened in the rest of the country.

Most recently, reporter Volodymyr Volovodyuk, who had investigated black-market trading in the central Vinnytsia region, was beaten to death June 12.

None of these cases have been prosecuted.

"Impunity has become the norm," Tomilenko said. "The daily life of journalists is more like reports from the front."

After the 2014 uprising, Ukraine has increased its drive to become more integrated with Western Europe and to move out of Russia's sphere of influence. But Europe is often uneasy with Ukraine's disorder and corruption, and the Sheremet case adds to nervousness.

"Authorities say Russia is the prime suspect, but the lack of progress in the case, coupled with evidence pointing to possible Ukrainian involvement, weaken Kiev's credibility and suggest the need for an independent probe," the Committee To Protect Journalists international watchdog said in a recent report.

The evidence referred to by CPJ centers on a report put together by Sheremet's colleagues and other journalists, assisted by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

That investigation identified two people observed by security cameras as lurking near Sheremet's car the night before the blast, and identified one of them as a former agent of the national security service, the SBU. The SBU decline comment.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met with Sheremet's family last week and acknowledged that the probe had brought no results, but confirmed that he was "interested in a transparent investigation."

04.03.2017. MEXICO. Ex-police commander jailed for 30 years for murder of Oaxaca journalist

A court in the Mexican state Oaxaca convicted Jorge Armando Santiago Martínez of murdering Marcos Hernandez Bautista, a reporter for the daily Noticias, Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca, according to press reports.

The court in Puerto Escondido sentenced Santiago Martínez, the former commander of the Santiago de Jamiltepec municipal police, at the same hearing to 30 years in prison for shooting Hernández multiple times outside a bar owned by the journalist on January 21, 2016, according to a statement by Oaxaca's attorney general's office. Santiago Martinez was ordered to pay 178,000 Mexican pesos (US$9,100) in damages to the journalist's family, according to the statement.

"We applaud Mexican authorities for this conviction in the murder of journalist Marco Hernández Bautista," said Carlos Lauría, CPJ's senior program coordinator for the Americas. "While this is an encouraging first step toward addressing anti-press violence, justice will remain incomplete until the mastermind has been apprehended. We urge Mexican authorities to identify and prosecute the intellectual author of the crime and break the cycle of deadly violence against the media."

Authorities arrested Santiago Martínez on February 25, 2016 and charged him with murder on July 15, 2016, according to local news reports. The statement by Oaxaca's attorney general's office did not include any information about the motive for the crime.

Hernández, who was also a freelance correspondent at La Ke Buena radio in the municipality of Pinotepa Nacional, reported on social issues and had written about protests over a planned hydro-electric dam, according to press reports. His editor at Noticias, Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca, María de los Angeles Velasco, told CPJ that he also denounced officials for land theft and corruption.

Velasco said that Hernández was murdered a few days after a fake story was published on Facebook. The fake report about an alleged land grab was styled to look like a Noticias story. Hernández, who had no involvement in the story, began receiving threatening phone calls, said Velasco and colleagues of the journalist, who spoke with CPJ on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Hernández was also a municipal official responsible for culture in Santiago Jamiltepec and was active with the left-wing opposition political party Morena, according to Ismael Sanmartín Hernández, the editorial director of Noticias, Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca.

25.01.2017. SRI LANKA. Hopes fade for justice for dead, lost Sri Lankan journalists (AP)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Hope is fading fast that Sri Lanka’s government will take action against those responsible for the deaths and disappearances of dozens of journalists during and after the country’s long civil war, activists and relatives said Tuesday.

President Maithripala Sirisena campaigned on a promise of ending a culture of impunity when he defeated former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a January 2015 election.

During Rajapaksa’s nine-year tenure, dozens of journalists were killed, abducted and tortured, or fled the country fearing for their lives. Scores more were killed or disappeared during the civil war that ended in 2009 with the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels.

Two years into Sirisena’s presidency, there is little sign that the suspects, mostly military soldiers, will be punished.

On Tuesday, dozens of journalists and activists gathered in Colombo to commemorate the missing and write postcards to Sirisena demanding that he appoint a presidential commission to investigate the abductions.

The campaign was organized to mark what organizers call “Black January,” a commemoration of the killings and abductions of journalists and the destruction of television studios that occurred in the month of January between 2005 and 2010.

Among those participating was Sandya Ekneligoda, who has fought for seven years to discover what happened to her abducted husband, Prageeth Ekneligoda.

Prageeth, a journalist and cartoonist, wrote about corruption, nepotism and Rajapaksa’s leadership of the military campaign against the rebels. He was abducted two days before a 2010 presidential election in which he actively supported Rajapaksa’s rival.

“From day one I had the conviction that Prageeth had no enemies and that this (the abductions) is a work of Mahinda. Mahinda and Gotabhaya should be responsible,” Ekneligoda told The Associated Press referring to the former president and his brother and powerful defense secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

She said investigators told her that her husband was probably dead. They had found that he had been taken by his abductors to an army camp and the last available information is that he was transported to the east coast.

“We can live in hope that he is alive; at the same time we can’t be hopeful because the CID (Criminal Investigations Department)) says that he is no more.”

Ekneligoda said the Sirisena government brought hope for justice, but its recent steps have dented her confidence. One reason, she said, was a speech by Sirisena in which he criticized police for holding the soldiers suspected in Prageeth’s abduction longer than necessary.

Days after the speech, a court released the suspects on bail and the military promptly reinstated them to their earlier positions, which Ekneligoda said was a clear message that the suspects have the state’s backing.

“Clearly the manner of the president today is not what we saw when we brought him into power in 2015. He has a totally different attitude,” Ekneligoda said.

Sirisena has said his speech was not meant to influence the court.

K.W. Janaranjana, a newspaper editor and activist said that he was “highly dissatisfied” with the way investigations are being conducted and urged journalists and other citizens to keep up pressure on the government.

During Rajapaksa’s presidency, journalists were largely concentrating on staying alive rather than focusing on the quality of journalism, said journalist and activist Dilrukshi Handunnetti. But that has reversed even though a lot needs to be done to account for past crimes, she said.

During the country’s 26-year civil war, both the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels were accused of killing and abducting critics.

The government’s war victory in 2009 ended the rebels’ campaign for an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils.

17.01.2017. TURKEY. Hrant Dink murder was deliberately permitted, says former police intelligence branch head (Hurriyet Daily news)

Ali Fuat Yılmazer, the former head of Turkey’s police intelligence branch, has given his testimony in the 31st hearing into the 2007 killing of Armenian-origin Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, saying the killing was “deliberately not prevented” and security authorities in Istanbul and Trabzon were responsible.

“This murder was made possible on purpose and Dink was the victim of the killing. The police are guilty of misconduct on duty. The state did not carry out its duty,” said Yılmazer.

“In terms of numbers, there is an organizational connection behind this murder. Most importantly it has coordination within the state. The mechanisms within the state did not move to protect Dink,” he added.

Yılmazer also said the earlier investigation into the killing “were closer to justice” and those arrested had been “silenced.”

Noting that the killing was planned in the Black Sea province of Trabzon before being committed in Istanbul, Yılmazer said Dink was murdered due to lack of measures that should have been taken in Istanbul. He said officials in Istanbul had a duty to take Dink under protection like Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish novelist who was given security protection and who was tried under the notorious Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code against “insulting Turkishness.” Dink was also convicted of the offense before his death.

In his testimony, Yılmazer denied claims that he was the instigator of the murder, saying he had “no connection” with the Trabzon authorities and in fact he had never even been to the Black Sea province. He also alleged that Engin Dinç, former Trabzon police intelligence branch chief, had such connections as he had spoken with the gendarmerie on the issue.

Dink, 52, was shot dead with two bullets to the head in broad daylight outside the offices of the Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper Agos in central Istanbul.

Trabzon-based Ogün Samast, then a 17-year-old jobless high-school dropout, confessed to the murder and was sentenced to almost 23 years in jail in 2011.

But the case grew into a wider scandal after it emerged that security forces had been aware of a plot to kill Dink but failed to act.

Relatives and followers of the case have long claimed government officials, police, military personnel and members of the National Intelligence Agency (MİT) played a role in Dink’s murder by neglecting their duty to protect the journalist.

Turkey’s top court in July 2014 ruled that the investigation into the killing had been flawed, paving the way for the trial of the police officials.

In January 2016, the Supreme Court of Appeals ruled to tie the main case into Dink’s murder and prosecution into the public officers’ negligence to prevent the killing of Dink.

13.01.2017. Paris demo demands truth about murders of two journalists in Mali (RSF)

A demonstration was held outside the main law courts in central Paris at 9 a.m. today to urge the French and Malian judicial authorities to do much more to shed light on the murders of Radio France Internationale journalists Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon in Mali more than three years ago. ​

With press photographers in attendance, more than 20 people took part in the protest organized by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Association of Friends of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, and RFI’s Society of Journalists.

Limited judicial cooperation between the French and Malian governments have blocked progress in the investigation into the double murder of the RFI journalists in Kidal, in northern Mali, on 2 November 2013.

The French government has classified many relevant documents as “defence secrets,” thereby preventing their use by the judicial authorities, while the security situation in northern Mali has prevented officials from ever visiting the crime scene. No witness as so far been questioned.

“This inertia is unacceptable,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “We demand answers and more transparency in the handling of this investigation. There are people who have information. It must be possible for them to be questioned by the judicial authorities so that we can finally learn the truth.”

RSF, which defends freedom of information, has registered as interested civil party in the case in order to be able to play an active role in support of the Association of Friends of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon.