By Travis Knoll
The Office of Human Rights in Paraguay (Codehupy) took the torture allegations of Paraguayan journalist Paulo López to multiple UN organizations last week, according to Paraguayan news magazine E’a.
López, who works for E'a, was detained in Asunción on Jan. 3 while inquiring about the detention of protesters against bus fare increases. According to the reporter, local police commissioner Édgar Galeano detained him for “disturbing the peace." Police took his camera and other belongings, told him his movements were being monitored and threatened to plant evidence in his criminal file. López added that Galeano also hit him on the back of the neck with his gun and complained that he was thrown to the ground and beat by other police officers.
López also accused the police of falsifying a report about his detention, saying that the report omitted his accusation that the police punched him and stated that López handed over his possessions voluntarily. According to López, the police attempted to give him another camera as a decoy.
According to the police version, López “aggressively” inquired into the status of the detained protesters and allegedly punched and hospitalized one officer, ABC Color reported.
The Paraguayan Journalist’s Union reported that the investigation is still in the initial phases.
Paraguay's Office of Human Rights brought the case to the UN's Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Frank La Rue, and Juan Mendez, the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. They also asked the UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to look into the matter citing a violation of the The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and is torture under Article 1 of the UN's The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment .
Codehupy's move comes days after the journalist had filed another complaint with the State General Prosecutor’s Office in Paraguay.
López has been the center of other controversies. Last year he accused ABC Color of firing him for refusing to fabricate a quote by Raúl Castro. That complaint received international coverage from sympathetic outlets in Russia, Cuba and Venezuela.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
