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IMPUNITY-COLOMBIA
WHEREAS
seven journalists have been killed in the last six months and four of them were
reporters, owners and/or news directors of community radio stations in regions
where the armed conflict is becoming more violent
WHEREAS
three journalists-José Dubiel Vásquez, Guillermo León Agudelo
and Alfredo Abad-employees of the same radio station, La Voz de la Selva-in
Florencia, Caquetá, were killed in less than a year
WHEREAS
no hearing in public court has been held for Libardo Prada Bayona, the defendant
accused of committing the murder of journalist Amparo Leonor Jiménez
on August 11, 1998
WHEREAS
former legislator Carlos Alberto Oviedo Alfaro has fled, although he has been
mentioned as the possible mastermind in the investigation of the homicides of
journalists Jairo Elías Márquez and Ernesto Acero Cadena in the
city of Armenia on November 20, 1997, and December 12, 1995, respectively, because
there is sufficient evidence against him
WHEREAS
the crimes against Guzmán Quintero Torres and Hernando Rangel Moreno
have still not been solved
WHEREAS
journalist Iván Darío Cardozo has been denied application of the
principle that the law more favorable to the defendant shall apply, when the
new criminal and criminal procedure codes went into effect, in his trials for
alleged extortion and influence peddling
WHEREAS
Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states that "freedom of expression
and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, pressure,
intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities,
violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators. Such acts must be investigated
promptly and punished harshly"
THE GENEAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES
to ask the authorities to order the deployment of investigators to those regions
to obtain information to clear up the facts and put together a support network
with media outlets, journalists' organizations and nongovernmental organizations
to protect journalists and maintain continuous information to guarantee quick
and effective action for journalists
to ask the Prosecutor's Office to investigate and
gather all the evidence to solve the murders of three journalists from the radio
station La Voz de la Selva in Florencia, Caquetá
to ask the judge of the Special Circuit of Valledupar
to make a ruling and avoid whenever possible any more delays in the public hearing
and ask the General Prosecutor's Office to continue the investigation to find
the masterminds of the murder
to ask Colombian intelligence authorities to capture
former legislator Carlos Alberto Oviedo Alfaro to serve the sentence of 38 years
in prison imposed by the Superior Court of Bogota for the double homicide of
Guillermo Acosta, and engineer, and the hit man Fernando Selis, and ask the
national General Prosecutor's Office to link him formally to the investigations
of the murders of journalists Jairo Elías Márquez and Ernesto
Acero Cadena
to ask the national General Prosecutor's Office
to further the necessary investigations to find the masterminds of the murders
of journalists Guzmán Quintero Torres and Hernando Rangel Moreno
to ask the National Directorate of Prosecutors
though its Barranquilla office to solve, in accordance with the law, the judicial
situation of journalist Iván Darío Cardozo.
 questions
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