Cuarto Poder reports that one of its reporters, Fredy Martín Pérezis is being harassed by a judge, who is trying to force the journalist to testify in a trial for two alleged drug traffickers.
The basis for the subpoena is a September 2009 article that mentions the arrest of the two suspects on a weapons charge, the National Center for Social Communications (CENCOS) reports. However, the sources for the article were publicly available government reports, and the material was also covered by several other media outlets.
Pérezis has complained to the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) that the officers were sent to his home and the offices of Cuarto Poder to serve the subpoena.
According to the complaint, reproduced by Quadratín, Cuatro Poder’s editors refused to cooperate with the order as “media workers should not be part of trials, nor should they be called as witnesses.”
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» Knight Center (Lawyer of U.S. journalist forced to testify says court is setting bad precedent - Interview)
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.
