July-December 2010 caselist - PEN International

who was arrested in 2007 and is now serving a sentence for drug trafficking,allegedly ordered Santos to shoot Gomes because the journalist’sreporting was affecting the criminal activities that Souza was continuingto run from prison.Killed: motive unknown*Wanderley DOS REIS: journalist and owner of local free newspaperPopular News, was shot by three gunmen at his home on 16 October2010 and died in hospital the next day. According to Moisés Fernandesda Silva, who lived in Dos Reis’ house, the gunmen knocked at the doorasking to see Dos Reis and then took him to the kitchen after which agun shot was heard. No theft was recorded which raised the possibilityof Reis having been killed for his journalistic work. Dos Reis specializedin politics and urban infrastructure and covered the Ibitinga area. PopularNews, which appeared irregularly, was reportedly opposed to Ibitinga’scurrent municipal authorities.*José Rubem Pontes de SOUZA: owner and editor of the local newspaperEntre-Rios Jornal, was shot dead in Paraíba do Sul, Rio de Janeiroprovince, on 30 October 2010. According to witnesses, an unidentifiedgunman shot Souza twice in the neck before fleeing. The police investigatingSouza’s murder suggested that he was killed during a hold-up butthis is reportedly not supported by witness accounts. Entre-Rios Jornalhad recently provided extensive coverage of the murder of a youngwoman in Três Rios. Souza was reportedly also active in local politicsand ran for mayor of Paraíba do Sul in 2008. Update: On 12 Novemberit was reported that the police had claimed to have arrested the personwho shot Souza. The suspect, Renato Demétrio de Souza (no relation tothe journalist), is a former member of the military police wanted in thepast for suspected robbery, drug-trafficking, two murders and formingan armed organization. According to the police, the suspect rented outjuke boxes to bars, sharing profits with influential local businessmen andothers, and shot Souza for refusing to enter into a business relationshipwith him. Two people who were present when Souza was shot reportedlyidentified the detainee as the killer.Attacked*Ademir FELICIANO: journalist, was beaten while he was working onhis website Altiaqui in Altinoplis, near Ribeirao Petro, São Paulo, on 2October 2010. He was taken to hospital for medical treatment. Police wasreportedly investigating.*Afonso LOCKS: editor of the newspaper Correio de Notícias, Rondôniastate, was chased and assaulted on 8 August 2010 in front of the CidadeFM radio station in Cerejeiras, Rondônia. The assailants allegedlyincluded the son and daughter of former mayor; the daughter is a citycouncillor in Cerejeiras. According to Locks, the assault was motivatedby an item published in his column that criticised the support given bythe former mayor to a certain candidate to become state representative.On the night of the attack, Locks says he was followed by two cars to theradio building, where he stopped to leave an issue of the newspaper. Theformer mayor’s son got out of one of the vehicles and warned Locks tostop publishing things against his candidate and about his family, threatenedLocks’ children and attacked him. The police were investigating theassault and threats.Harassed*Mario PINTO: journalist working for the weekly newspaper ImpactoCampo Grande, was taken to a local police station on 12 September2010 following the publication of a report criticising the governor ofMato Gresso do Sul. About 850 copies of the newspaper were seized.According to the journalist, a temporary order prohibited the publicationof terms with negative connotations involving the governor. He said thatthe newspaper had only reprinted articles already published in the localpress.CHILEReleasedAsel LUZARRAGA: Basque novelist, blogger, translator and musician,was found guilty of illegal possession of explosives on 7 September2010 and sentenced to 220 days in prison. Since he had already servedmore than this in pre-trial detention and under house arrest, he was notre-imprisoned. He was due to be deported from Chile within two weeks.Details of arrest: On 31 December 2009, around 20 police officers froman antiterrorist unit raided Luzarraga’s home in Temuco, Araucaníaregion. The operation took place after an undetonated homemade bombwas found outside the Araucanía Justice Secretariat in Temuco earlier thatday. A search of Luzarraga’s house reportedly located materials similarto those used in the bomb, including an empty fire extinguisher, a smallamount of gun powder and fuses. Luzarraga, who says he was preventedfrom witnessing the raid, denied ever having these items in his home.He was detained without charge for six days under antiterrorism legislationand appeared in court on 6 January 2010. The magistrate orderedthat he should be held in preventative detention for three months in orderto allow the state prosecutor to continue the investigation. Luzarraga’sappeal was rejected on 9 January 2010. Charges: Luzarraga was chargedwith “illegal possession of weapons and explosives”, charges whichcarry a maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment. He was accused ofbeing involved in two bomb attacks carried out in Chile in the previousyear. He was originally accused of involvement in another two attacksas well but these charges were dropped when it was proven that he hadbeen out of the country at the time. Luzarraga denied involvement in anyof the attacks. Bail/ house arrest: On 10 February 2010, Luzarraga wasreleased on bail and placed under house arrest in Temuco pending trial.PEN’s concerns: PEN is disturbed by a number of apparent irregularitiesand failures in due process in the case against Luzarraga. It is alsoconcerned that the case against Luzarraga may have been be linked to hiswriting on and advocacy for the rights of the Mapuche, Chile’s largestindigenous group, who have long been in conflict with the Chileangovernment over their right to land and other natural resources. Luzarragahas written about the Mapuche conflict on his blog, and at the timeof his arrest had recently participated in protests demanding the releaseof a female Mapuche activist. Background: A member of Basque PENsince 2004 and a member of its board since September 2008, Luzarragahad been living in Chile since March 2009. He is the author of fourBasque-language novels: Abaraska (Editorial Txalaparta, 2008), Mozorroarenxarma (Editorial Erein, 2007), Karonte (Editorial Elkar, 2005– winner of the 2003 VI. Igartza Prize) and Hamaika ispilu ganbil (EditorialLabayru, 2003), and writes two blogs (http://gorribeltzean.wordpress.com and http://goiena.net/blogak/asel). Until his detention, he worked asa Spanish-Basque translator in Chile.21