Impunity - Paraguay

WHEREAS On October 16, 2001 Milcíades Mailyn will be tried in open court on charges of acting as gunman in the murder of Salvador Medina Velázquez, chairman of the board of Ñemity Comunicaciones and manager of community radio station Ñemity FM, which occurred on January 5, 2001 in Capiibary in the province of San Pedro WHEREAS the charges against Timoteo Cáceres, Daniel Enciso Marilín and Luis Alberto Franco Meza have been dismissed without prejudice WHEREAS relatives of the victim have received threats, despite the general habeas corpus extended to them by the trial court judge; and Pablo Medina Velázquez, a correspondent for the Asunción newspaper ABC Color, only receives protection when covering news off his beat in Curuguaty WHEREAS the reports that may have angered some local individuals concerned a crime family active in the area and the theft of bolts of valuable timber from a forest reserve, police inaction in solving the crime, and the immediate arrest of individuals who were suspected of involvement in the crime, some of whom are still at large WHEREAS ten years after the murder of journalist Santiago Leguizamón, then director of the Mburucuyá radio station in Pedro Juan Caballero, located 550 km northeast of Asunción, and a correspondent for the newspaper Noticias in the same town, the perpetrators of the crime still enjoy impunity WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec provides that “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 GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to ask the government of Paraguay to both solve the murder of Salvador Medina Velázquez and determine the motive that led the perpetratrators to commit it to ask the government of Paraguay to guarantee the safety of the Medina Velázquez family, especially Pablo Medina Velázquez as he risks his life to work as a journalist to urge the authorities to investigate and solve the case of Santiago Leguizamón once and for all.