WHEREAS, Waldemar Pereira Rivas was arrested on May 1, 2020 in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero - on the Paraguay-Brazil border; whereas, Rivas is the main suspect in the February 12, 2020 murder of Brazilian journalist, Lourenço Veras - known as Léo Veras - who used to denounce drug trafficking activities along the border through the Porã News website
WHEREAS, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the trial of the five defendants accused of being involved in the murder of radio broadcaster Valério Luiz - which had been set for June 23, 2020 - was postponed; the journalist was murdered in 2012, while leaving the radio station where he used to work at in Goiânia, Goiás state; that five individuals were denounced: Urbano de Carvalho Malta, Marcus Vinícius Pereira Xavier, Ademá Figueredo Aguiar Filho, Djalma Gomes da Silva, and the former president of Atletico Goianiense, Maurício Borges Carvalho, the latter having been pointed out as the intellectual author of the crime; that as of October 6, 2020 there was no new date set for the trial
WHEREAS, the intellectual authors of crimes against communicators in the exercise of their profession remain unpunished - cases that were investigated by IAPA in the Impunity Project, including: Aristeu Guida da Silva, murdered on May 12, 1995 in the municipality of São Fidélis, Rio de Janeiro; Manoel Leal de Oliveira, murdered in January 1998 in Itabuna, Bahia; Ivan Rocha, disappeared April 1991 in Teixeira de Freitas, Bahia; Reinaldo Coutinho da Silva, murdered August 29, 1995, in São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro; Edgar Lopes de Faria, murdered October 29, 1997, in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul; and José Carlos Mesquita, murdered March 10, 1998, in Ouro Preto do Oeste, Rondônia
WHEREAS, Principle 4 of the Chapultepec Declaration states that: "Murder, terrorism, kidnapping, coercion, intimidation, unjust imprisonment of journalists, physical destruction of the media, violence of any kind, and impunity for perpetrators severely restrict freedom of expression and of the press. These actions must be promptly investigated and severely punished."
THE 76th IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES
To request the diligent and rapid action of the authorities in the investigation of these cases, and the punishment of those responsible - both perpetrators and intellectual authors - for threats and crimes against communicators
To request that the Brazilian government comply with all the recommendations and provisions established in agreements related to cases of murdered journalists before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)
To request compliance with the friendly agreement reached by the Brazilian government and the IACHR, which provides for the dissemination of the "Aristeu Guida da Silva Booklet - International Standards for the Protection of Human Rights of Journalists and Other Communicators," as well as the adoption of measures to prevent aggression, and to punish those who attack freedom of expression and communication
To request that adequate arrangements be made for the trial of the individuals accused for the murder of journalist Valério Luiz
To request support for the reopening and resuming of investigations on cases still unpunished of crimes against communicators murdered in the exercise of their profession
