MIAMI, Florida (October 26, 2009)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today issued an open call on Brazil’s President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva to act to see that justice is done in the investigation into the death of journalist Manoel Leal de Oliveira, murdered in Itabuna, Bahia, on January 14, 1998.
Following an investigation by the IAPA and at the urging of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for the first time a state government in Brazil has acknowledged, its responsibility in the murder of a journalist, in this case that of Leal de Oliveira, doing so some weeks ago.
It now remains for the state legislature to approve restitution to the family and that the courts reopen the case so as to bring the guilty to justice.
The IAPA is waging a hemisphere-wide campaign, “Let’s Put an End to Impunity,” to see that more than 350 crimes against journalists committed over the last 22 years, as well as a dozen disappearances, do not continue to go unpunished. To this end the organization has on several occasions gone before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to denounce these unpunished cases.
Interactive ads are appearing in some 400 print and online news media throughout the Americas, inviting the community to join the campaign by going to the Web site www.impunidad.com, where they can sign a letter, in this case to Brazil’s President Lula da Silva, seeking action. The initiative is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
