Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009journalists killed: motive unconfirmedThe journalist reported on generalnews, according to local press reports.Police had no immediate suspects butwere considering journalism as a possiblemotive, Ardón said.KAZAKHSTAN: 1Gennady Pavlyuk (IbragimRustambek), Bely ParokhodDecember 22, 2009, AlmatyKyrgyz journalist Gennady Pavlyuk,who used the pen name IbragimRustambek, died in a hospital in Almaty,Kazakhstan, after falling from anupper-story window of an apartmentbuilding in the city six days earlier.Pavlyuk, 40, described by colleaguesas one of Kyrgyzstan’s most prominentjournalists, had traveled to Almaty onbusiness, the purpose of which wasnot immediately clear. Some localnews reports said Pavlyuk intendedto start a pro-opposition online publicationand had traveled to Almaty tomeet with potential partners. Otherreports said Pavlyuk was on a reportingtrip to investigate a car-theft ring.Pavlyuk, an ethnic Russian, hadheaded the Kyrgyz bureaus of theRussian newspapers Argumenty iFakty and Komsomolskaya Pravda beforebecoming editor-in-chief of theindependent Kyrgyz newspaper BelyParokhod. The publication was knownfor its examination of high-level corruptionand its critical coverage ofPresident Kurmanbek Bakiyev, saidMarat Tokoyev, head of the Kyrgyzpress freedom group, Public AssociationJournalists. In recent months,however, Pavlyuk had focused his effortson the launch of his new publication,CPJ sources said.Pavlyuk was found unconscious onthe evening of December 16, sprawledon the overhang of an Almaty apartmentbuilding entrance, his hands andlegs bound with tape, the KazakhstanInterior Ministry said. It was not immediatelyclear why Pavlyuk had goneto the building or whom he had metthere. A police search of a sixth-floorapartment found a roll of tape, Pavlyuk’sjacket, a key for an Almaty hotelroom that he had checked into earlierthat day, and an empty laptop bag, theministry said.A security camera at the Almaty hotelcaptured images of Pavlyuk leavingwith an unidentified man earlier thatday, the Kyrgyz news agency AKIpresssaid. The windows in the apartmentfrom which Pavlyuk apparently fellwere not broken, AKIpress said. Pavlyuksuffered multiple injuries causedby the fall, according to doctors withAlmaty’s central city hospital. He diedat around 6 a.m. on December 22,never having regained consciousness,the independent Kazakh newspaperRespublika reported.MEXICO: 6Jean Paul Ibarra Ramírez, El CorreoFebruary 13, 2009, IgualaIbarra, a photographer for the newspaperEl Correo, and Yenny YulianaMarchán Arroyo, a reporter for thedaily Diario 21, were on their way tocover a car accident at around 10 p.m.when an SUV pulled alongside theirmotorcycle and an unidentified gunmanfired at them repeatedly, accordingto international news reports.The gunman then got out of the vehicleand shot the photographer a finaltime in the head, police told CPJ. Ibarra,33, died at the scene, press reports said.Marchán, 22, suffered serious injuries.Police in the southern city of Iguala,Guerrero state, told CPJ that the assailantused a .45-caliber pistol, a firearmauthorized exclusively for the Mexicanarmy. Its use made the shooting a federalcrime. Police said they had no leads.Ibarra was a crime photographer, but,like many Mexican journalists, soughtto steer clear of images that might angercriminal gangs or corrupt police,local reporters said. Marchán wrote apublic opinion feature and covered thecrime beat once a week for Diario 21.Carlos Ortega SamperEl Tiempo de DurangoMay 3, 2009, Santa María El OroTwo pickup trucks intercepted CarlosOrtega Samper, a reporter for theDurango City-based daily El Tiempode Durango, as he was driving home inthe town of Santa María El Oro, 200miles (320 kilometers) north of thestate capital, colleagues told CPJ.Four unidentified individuals gotoff the trucks and pulled the reporterfrom his car, journalists at El Tiempode Durango said. As he resisted, theassailants shot him three times in thehead with a .40-caliber pistol, accordingto news reports and CPJ interviews.Ortega, 52, died at the scene.In an April 2 article, the journalisthad alleged that Mayor MartínSilvestre Herrera and Juan ManuelCalderón Guzmán, the local representativefor federal programs, hadthreatened him in connection withhis recent reporting on the conditionsof a local slaughterhouse. In the samestory, Ortega wrote that he was investigatinga local police officer, SalvadorFlores Triana, for alleged corruption.The journalist said that the three menshould be held responsible if anythingwere to happen to him or his family.Ortega, also an attorney, had workedas the Santa María El Oro correspondentfor El Tiempo de Durango for lessthan a year. His editor, Saúl García,told CPJ that he believed Ortega waskilled in retaliation for his reporting onlocal government corruption. Authoritiesdid not disclose a possible motive.Silvestre told local reporters thathe had no involvement in the murder.While acknowledging having had disagreementswith Ortega, the mayorsaid he had never threatened him. CPJcalls to the other two officials wentunanswered.Juan Daniel Martínez GilRadiorama Acapulco and W RadioJuly 28, 2009, La Máquina276277