Perú

WHEREAS On January 12 last Alejandro Carrascal Carrasco, editor of the weekly Nor Oriente of the city of Jaén, Cajamarca region, Amazonas, was arrested on the orders of Judge Francisco Miranda of the First Criminal Court, who sentenced him to one year of deprivation of freedom for the crime of aggravated libel. WHEREAS Upon confirming the sentence, mentioned judge absolved the journalist for the crime of slander and confirmed his conviction for slander, reiterating the sentence of one actual year of deprivation of freedom and payment of a fine as civil reparation. WHEREAS There exist indications that the imprisonment of Carrascal is tied to political persecution in reprisal for the coverage of the weekly’s coverage of the violent confrontation between security forces and natives, known as the “Baguazo,” which left a sad balance of 24 police officers and 10 civilians dead. WHEREAS A son of the journalist is heading the legal defense of a native representative accused of the death of police officers in the area of Devil’s Curve. WHEREAS The plaintiff Victor Feria has already given up on his complaint; there exist numerous procedural irregularities that preceded the Carrascal’s arrest, such as the fact that he states that he had received no due notification of the reading of the sentence, which occurred in his absence. WHEREAS Given that the editor of the weekly Nor Oriente had no prior police record, his arrest for the type of crime alleged was inappropriate, as is also the length of the one-year sentence imposed. WHEREAS Carrascal has been imprisoned for more than two months and his health has been in serious jeopardy since the day of his arrest, although he has been denied appropriate medical attention. WHEREAS June 5, 2009, in the context of the same tragic events that occurred in the province of Bagua, highest authorities of the government of Peru publicly accused La Voz de Bagua radio in the city of Bagua Grande, department of Amazonas, of causing the deaths. WHEREAS On days following, the Minister of Transport and Communications announced that he would investigate, identify, and sanction radio stations in the area that “incited violence;” this move immediately mobilized the media of Bagua to issue a public declaration of protest. WHEREAS Three days later, La Voz de Bagua radio received a notice announcing its closure, although that official resolution alleged failure to meet required technical standards as specified in the Law of Radio and Television. WHEREAS The owner and director of La Voz de Bagua radio denies both the political claims, as well as the administrative ones, and that the station has run out of administrative measures and has submitted a suit for support before Judicial Branch, asking that the order of closure be vacated. WHEREAS On February 16 the Head Prosecutor of the First Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Utcubamba, Amazonas region, Dr. Olga Bobadilla, dropped the criminal case against Aurora Burgos de Flores, owner of La Voz de Bagua radio and journalists José Flores Burgos, Leitor Flores Burgos and Alberto Pintado Villaverde, for their alleged crime against public order in the modality of instigating crime and sedition. WHEREAS Despite this measure, the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) refuses to authorize La Voz de Bagua radio to return to the air and has even confiscated its bank accounts to cover supposed unpaid fines. WHEREAS Principle no. 5 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states that “Prior censorship, restrictions on the circulation of the media or dissemination of their reports, forced publication of information, the imposition of obstacles to the free flow of news, and restrictions on the activities and movements of journalists directly contradict freedom of the press.” THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to call upon the president of the Office for the Oversight of Judges (OCMA), Dr. Enrique Mendoza, to carry out an investigation of the presumed irregularities alleged in the arrest of the editor of the weekly Nor Oriente; to call upon the Ministry of Transport and Communications to reconsider its decision to revoke the operating license of La Voz de Bagua radio, arbitrarily silenced for almost a year; to charge the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information to contemplate the formation of an investigative mission to visit Peru to analyze the situation prevailing in that country.