62nd
General Assembly
Mexico City, Mexico
September 29 to October 3, 2006
Camino Real Hotel
Reports and Resolutions
|
URUGUAY
Resolution of the Midyear Meeting
Quito, Ecuador
WHEREAS
between the night of October 17 and dawn of October 18, 2005, journalist Marcelo
Borrat was kidnapped, tortured and threatened with death by three hooded men
who demanded at gunpoint that he destroy tapes in his possession
WHEREAS
the IAPA, in a letter from president Diana Daniels and the chairman of the Committee
on the Freedom of the Press and Information, Gonzalo Marroquín, called
on the president of Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez, to resolve this case
quickly to avoid “setting an ill-fated precedent”
WHEREAS
the Uruguayan journalists´union has repeatedly demanded that “authorities
of the police and justice system thoroughly investigate the case and punish
the guilty parties”
WHEREAS
six months after the kidnapping, the police have not identified a single suspect
and that judicial investigations have not produced any results
WHEREAS
the continued impunity of the perpetrators of the kidnapping and torture of
the journalist, intended to silence him, encourages this type of crime to be
repeated
WHEREAS
Article 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes: “Freedom of expression
and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, 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 MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES
to reiterate IAPA´s
repudiation of this attack on press freedom
to demand that police and
judicial authorities intensify their efforts to locate the perpetrators and
masterminds behind this crime and bring them to justice.
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