Impunity - Haiti, Dominican Republic

WHEREAS freelance photographer Jean-Rémy Badio was murdered on January 19 at his home in Martissant, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti and the crime apparently was committed by members of a gang WHEREAS thirty-two years after the murder in the Dominican Republic of journalist Orlando Martínez on March 17, 1975, and despite the fact that those accused of the crime were given 20-year sentences, there has not been a final verdict and the case is still before an appeals court WHEREAS thirty-four years after the murder of Gregorio Garcia Castro of the newspaper Última Hora on March 28, 1973 in the Dominican Republic the crime has not been solved WHEREAS the whereabouts of journalist Narciso González (Narcisazo), who disappeared on May 26, 1994 in the Dominican Republic, are still unknown and the guilty parties have not been identified WHEREAS Principe 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec says, “Freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, pressure, intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities, violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators. Such acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly” THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to urge the government of Haiti to investigate and bring to justice those responsible for the crime against Jean-Rémy Badio to encourage the Dominican judiciary to speed up the case to reach definitive resolution of the case of Orlando Martínez to insist that the judicial authorities of the Dominican Republic investigate and solve the murder of Gregorio García Castro and the disappearance of Narciso González.