Miami (November 12, 2013)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today added its support to a request by Colombia’s Press Freedom Foundation (FLIP) that the country’s Public Prosecutor’s Office ensure an adequate and prompt investigation into the case of Édinson Alberto Molina which has not advanced since his murder in September.
Molina, 40, hosted the program “Consultorio Jurídico” (Legal Consultancy) broadcast by Puerto Berrío Stereo radio in the city of Puerto Berrío, Antioquia province. He was also a lawyer as which he responded to legal concerns of his listeners and also denounced and investigated alleged wrongdoing in the local government.
He was killed on September 11. After leaving the radio station he was riding on a motorcycle along with his wife when they were intercepted by two unidentified persons who shot at them four times. Molina died but his wife survived the attack.
The FLIP publicly questioned why after two months since the murder the Public Prosecutor’s Office had not called Molina’s widow and witness to the attack in to give a statement. It also expressed concern that it has misplaced evidence concerning one of the killers, gathered at the place of the attack on the day it had occurred and that local authorities were seeking to minimize Molina’s role as a journalist.
The chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Claudio Paolillo, said that at the time his organization had called on the authorities to investigate urgently and in-depth to determine the motive and identify and bring to justice those responsible, and now “we support FLIP’s request for the Pubic Prosecutor’s Office promptly reassign the investigations to another office with the objective of ensuring impartiality in the proceedings and avoiding that the crime goes unpunished.”
Paolillo, editor of the Montevideo, Uruguay, weekly Búsqueda, added that during its General Assembly in October in Denver, Colorado, the IAPA had adopted a resolution in which Molina’s murder was condemned and a call was made on the authorities to conduct a prompt investigation, and it requested “activation of the necessary protection mechanisms of to safeguard the physical integrity of journalists, stringers and their news sources.”
Paolillo expressed the IAPA’s concern because “it gives the impression that the authorities do not take seriously the indications and evidence they already have to solve this case.” He added, “This kind of conduct is what feeds impunity, which is fuel for the criminals.”
The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. For more information please go to http://www.sipiapa.org.
