Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009snapshots: americasreporter for more than 30 years and was well-known in Guatemala. He toldcolleagues that he had received death threats, but it was not clear whetherthey were linked to a specific story. Local authorities said they were investigatingthe attack but did not disclose information about the possible motiveor suspects. De León was hospitalized with head, jaw, and chest wounds.»»An unidentified gunman killed television reporter Marco Antonio Estradaon June 6 in the eastern city of Chiquimula, 140 miles (225 kilometers) eastof Guatemala City, according to local news reports and CPJ interviews. Estradahad worked for more than 20 years as a journalist, local reporters toldCPJ. He covered general news, including organized crime and drug trafficking,for the national television station Tele Diario. Local authorities said theywere looking into Estrada’s work as a possible motive, colleagues told CPJ.PANAMA»»A judge in February sentenced journalist Jean Marcel Chéry to two years inprison on trespassing charges. The verdict followed a series of complaints fromSupreme Court Justice Winston Spadafora. Chéry said he had a guard’s permissionto enter Spadafora’s property to report a 2001 story saying that the officialhad used public funds to build a nearby road. Chéry was free on appeal.PERU»»The Peruvian Supreme Court convicted former President Alberto Fujimori ofhuman rights crimes on April 7. Among other crimes, Fujimori was convictedof masterminding the 1992 kidnapping of prominent journalist Gustavo Gorriti,a 1998 recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award. The formerpresident was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was sentenced again, in September,to six years in prison for secretly wiretapping politicians, journalists, andbusinessmen, along with bribing congressmen and buying off a television stationand a newspaper editorial board to back his 2000 re-election campaign.URUGUAY»»On June 10, the Uruguayan Chamber of Deputies, the lower chamber of parliament,passed a measure repealing criminal defamation on issues of publicinterest involving officials, according to local news reports. The bill, approvedby the Senate in December 2008, was signed into law by President TabaréVázquez.ASIA104