Impunity - Costa Rica

WHEREAS the police investigation into the murder of journalist Parmenio Medina Pérez, who was shot three times and killed on July 7, 2001, led to the arrest of three men charged with varying degrees of participation in the crime and two others alleged to have ordered the murder WHEREAS the case is in the hands of the Costa Rican Attorney General’s Office and could soon go to trial WHEREAS journalist Ivannia Mora Rodríguez was shot to death on December 23, 2003, and this crime remains unsolved WHEREAS the murder of Ivannia Mora Rodríguez is the second recent homicide to have shaken Costa Rican society, which has not been accustomed to this type of violence for decades 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 ask the Attorney General’s Office and police authorities to step up their efforts to solve these crimes and bring the responsible parties to justice to ask the Supreme Court to take up these cases without delay, under provisions appropriate for the proper and reasonable dispensation of justice.