|
april 23, 2008
H.E. Luiz Inácio da Silva
President of Brazil
Planalto Palace
Brasília, Brazil
Mr. President,
For five years now the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has been investigating murders of people working in the news media in the Americas. In some cases the right to justice has not been observed and in others negligence and irregularities in the official investigations have been obstacles that have helped the guilty go unpunished.
Determined to put an end to this state of affairs and in unison with the international community we respectfully call your attention to the case of Creative FM radio station commentator Jorge Lourenço dos Santos, murdered on July 11, 2004 in Santana do Ipanema, Alagoas state, Brazil. No one has been arrested and there are suspicions of irregularities having been committed in the investigation.
We would also like to point out that there have been 22 journalists murdered in Brazil in recent years. The courts have convicted 33 perpetrators of some of these crimes, but there are another 23 suspects who have not been arrested, and seven unsolved cases. The IAPA has gone before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to denounce those unpunished murders and/or disappearances of Brazilian journalists.
We would request, Mr. President, your intervention for the necessary steps to be taken to solve these murders, among which is that of Jorge Lourenço dos Santos. The perpetrators and masterminds must be punished under the full weight of the law, so that these crimes do not remain just another statistic concerning impunity in the Americas.
Sincerely,
|
