Impunity - Argentina

WHEREAS in a controversial ruling, an appeals court reduced the sentences of some of those who had been convicted in the murder of news photographer José Luis Cabezas, a landmark case that sent shock waves through Argentine society WHEREAS the January 25, 1997 murder of a photographer for Noticias magazine in Pinamar is one of most serious attacks on press freedom since the restoration of democracy in 1983 WHEREAS on November 13, 2003, a criminal appeals court ruling in the province of Buenos Aires reduced the sentences of some of those convicted of the crime and, under legislation granting double credit for time served before final judgment, at least one of those convicted could be released later this year WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states, “Freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, 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 address the Supreme Court of the Province of Buenos Aires to express the IAPA’s concern over this ruling, which has been met with widespread condemnation among the people and in the Argentine press to ask the judges of said Supreme Court that, should this case come before them, they prevent the sentence reductions from going into effect and proceed to apply the full weight of the law in the case, in order to set an example and prevent this type of crime from being repeated in the future.