Impunity / Peru

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WHEREAS on April 21, 2004, journalist Alberto Rivera Fernández, host of the program “Transparencia” on Frecuencia Oriental radio in Pucallpa, was murdered; WHEREAS the shooters were convicted, but not so the presumed masterminds, and a number of defects were revealed in the oral trial against them, for which reason on three different occasions the Supreme Court ordered that a new trial be held; WHEREAS The Third Criminal Section of Free Defendants of the Superior Court of Justice of Lima is presently judging the presumed masterminds of the killing of journalist Rivera: the former mayor of the provincial municipality of Coronel Portillo, Luis Valdez Villacorta, and former judge Solio Ramírez Garay, and it has scheduled the next hearing for April 25, at which time the defendants will present their material defense, and it is possible that on that day the Court will set the date for reading the sentence. WHEREAS on September 7, 2011, journalist Pedro Flores Silva of Channel 6 television in Casma was murdered near his home. Despite the time that has passed, investigations are still continuing to identify the presumed perpetrators; WHEREAS through the Resolution of the Prosecutor of the Nation, the competence of the National Superior Criminal Prosecutor’s Office and of the supra-provincial criminal prosecutors of Lima has been expanded to include cases of homicide, murder, serious injury, abduction, and extortion against journalists while performing their jobs. 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 judges of the Third Criminal Section of Free Defendants of the Superior Court of Justice of Lima to issue a decision quickly and effectively that will put to an end the impunity that surrounds the murder of journalist Alvaro Rivera, punishing the instigators of the crime in an exemplary manner; to call on the National Prosecutor, José Peláez Bardales, by virtue of Resolution 1956-2010-MP-FN of the National Prosecutor’s Office, to assign a supra-provincial criminal prosecutor of Lima to take charge of the investigation of the murder of journalist Pedro Flores Silva, so that the presumed responsible parties may be subsequently tried by the national Criminal Section, in accordance with Administrative Resolution No. 187-2010-CE-PJ;

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