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IMPUNITY-GUATEMALA II
WHEREAS
Jorge Mynor Alegría Armendariz, journalist and news director of the militant
program "Direct Line" was shot to death on September 6 in Puerto Barrios
WHEREAS
Alegría received death threats after making serious reports of corruption
by municipal and state authorities and these threats were confirmed by investigations
by Guatemalan journalists and by Human Rights Prosecutor Julio Arango who called
the crime "political"
WHEREAS
no investigation has begun so far to determine who threatened Alegría,
and the Public Prosecutor's Office has not acted with the speed the case deserves
WHEREAS
Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec says, "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 GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES
to demand that authorities in the Public Prosecutor's Office continue and intensify
the investigation of the case until those responsible for planning and carrying
out the crime are put on trial
to send a representative of the IAPA Rapid Response
Unit to contribute to the solution of this new murder of a journalist who reported
corruption
to keep watch over the authorities' efforts to
solve the case and see that justice is done.
 questions
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