IMPUNITY/COLOMBIA

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WHEREAS the impunity in innumerable cases of threats enables the phenomenon of intimidation by this means to hamper the work of journalists in various parts of the country; WHEREAS in the last six months threatening leaflets have been circulated in Cartago, Valle del Cauca and Santander, and one more recently by e-mail, and 11 journalists have been threatened and five reported to have been attacked while doing their job; WHEREAS the Colombian Attorney General’s Office decided to order the arrest of two Caldas province politicians, Ferney Tapasco González and his son Dixon Tapasco, as alleged participation as masterminds of the murder of journalist Orlando Sierra, this being the first legal action to be taken against the alleged masterminds of the murder of the managing editor of the newspaper La Patria; WHEREAS despite the fact that the Attorney General’s Office made a commitment in July last year to reactive a case, initiate a judicial review to bring about the reopening of four others, and to reassign six investigations to the Human Rights Unit in Bogotá after looking into the state of 27 cases of crimes against journalists that were being handled by various public prosecutors’ offices around the country, there has been no indication of progress in responding to the commitment that was made; WHEREAS principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states that “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 IAPA MIDYEAR MEETING RESOLVES: to ask the Attorney General’s Office to move ahead with and promptly present effective investigations that ensure that those who are responsible for the threats are punished; to urge the authorities to investigate threats and attacks and to ensure the protection of journalists who have been threatened so that they may be able to continue to do their job of reporting; to welcome the decision of the investigative unit and ask that the trial be put under way promptly, handing down the corresponding punishment of those alleged to be responsible for the actions; to ask the newly-appointed Attorney General of Colombia to make a new review of these proceedings regarding the investigations into the murder of Mario Prada, Hernando Marné Sánchez, Iván Darió Pelayo, Arquímides Arias, Gildardo Ariza Olarte, Fabio Leonardo Restrepo, John Jairo Restrepo Vega, Javier Darío Arroyave, Zully Ester Codina Pérez, Elizabeth Obando Murcia, Rafael Enrique Prins, Gustavo Rojas Gabalo, Milton Fabián Sánchez and Alvaro Alonso Escobar, Gerardo Bedoya, among others, and take the steps that enable the corresponding investigations and court action to move ahead.

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