WHEREAS on April 9, 2011 the Judge of the 2nd Criminal Court in Coronel Portillo sentenced journalist Paúl Garay Ramírez, director and host of the programs Polémica broadcast by 47 TV and La Voz del Pueblo aired by La Exitosa radio to three years in prison and ordered him to pay 3,500 soles in damages on a libel charge. On appeal the Ucayali Superior Criminal Court in ruling on July 27, 2011 lowered the prison sentence to 18 months and raised the damages to 20,000 soles
WHEREAS the lawsuit was filed by the head of the Coronel Poprtillo Public Prosecutors Office, Agustín López Cruz, who accused the journalist of libeling by harmful phrases and as evidence he presented an audio. Garay has not verified that the voice on the audio is his, neither was the audio submitted to expert examination which could have determined the journalists guilt or innocence. Similarly, it has not been fully established that the radio station had broadcast the allegedly libelous statements reasons for which State Attorney Pablo Sánchez in his submission to the Supreme Court is in favor of the sentence being overturned
WHEREAS Garay Ramírez is currently in custody so he could testify as a witness in the trial of former Coronel Portillo mayor Luis Valdez Villacorta, accused of being the alleged mastermind of the murder of journalist Alberto Rivera Fernánez in 2004 in Pucallpa. The case is currently before the Supreme Courts Criminal Division Court, which has scheduled hearing for October 27, 2011.
WHEREAS on July 6, 2011 journalist Hans Francisco Andrade Chávez, former host of the local news program América Noticias broadcast by the affiliate of América TV in Chepén, was sentenced by the Chepén-Pacasmayo Provincial Criminal Court to two years in prison and ordered to pay 4,000 soles in damages and a fine of the equivalent of 120 days wages, on a charge of aggravated defamation. The lawsuit held that Andrade had attributed some statements to Juan Vásquez, a public official in Chepén municipality, but in fact they were made by the coordinator of a political party, Carla Rodríguez, when she was interviewed by the journalist, who accused Vásquez of threatening to kill her. Vásquez, instead of suing Rodríguez, who had made the same accusation in other media, sued Andrade. On October 12, 2011 the Third Criminal Appeals Court overturned the sentence of the first level and opened proceedings in this case
WHEREAS on September 22, 2011 the editor of the newspaper Perú 21, Fritz Du Bois, and the papers correspondent in Arequipa province, Gessier Ojeda Mercado, were sentenced by the Arequipa 6th Criminal Court to two years in prison suspended, on a charge of offense against the reputation and defamation and ordered him to pay 30,000 soles in damages. The lawsuit was brought by Rosario Flores Bedregal, aunt of Federal Congresswoman for the Gana Perú ruling party, Ana Maria Solórzano Flores, who claimed that the newspaper on March 10 had published information in which Solórzano was linked to family members engaged in the prostitution business. Ojeda was ruled responsible for the front page headline Sordid Money and the article The Dark Connections of Humalas Number One, and Du Bois was charged concerning his op-ed column in that same issue, titled Pantaleón y la Tía Pocha Pantaleón and the Withered Aunt).
WHEREAS the sentencing of the journalists shows a lack of due process on the part of the judges on applying the law, the reason for which it is necessary that the attention of the head of the judiciary be called to this matter, so that proceedings against journalists are carried out respecting the rules of due process and with the speed that the law requires
WHEREAS Plenary Agreement No. 3-2006/CJ-116 of the Jurisdictional Plenary of the Supreme Courts Permanent and Transitory Criminal Divisions: Offenses against personal reputation and constitutional right to freedom of expression and of information sets out the criteria that judges should apply on hearing cases of such offenses
WHEREAS Principle 10 of the Declaration of Chapultepec state that . No news medium nor journalist may be punished for publishing the truth or criticizing or denouncing the government.
THE IAPA 67 GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES
to call on Peruvian Supreme Court Chief Justice César San Martín Castro to instruct judges that in the cases against journalists they apply Plenary Agreement No. 3-2006/CJ-116 of the Jurisdictional Plenary of the Supreme Courts Permanent and Transitory Criminal Divisions: Offenses against personal reputation and constitutional right to freedom of expression and of information
to call on Peruvian Supreme Court Chief Justice César San Martín Castro to instruct the Office of Control of the Judiciary to investigate the conduct of the judges who handed down the sentences mentioned in this resolution
to call on Peruvian Supreme Court Chief Justice César San Martín Castro to instruct the judges of the judicial branch of government that in cases against journalists they must apply the law respecting due process and the guarantees established in Perus Political Constitution and the international treaties to which Peru is a party, with the speed that the case requires, with the objective of not convicting innocent people.
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