An Argentine journalist was unlawfully detained after filming a violent police confrontation, reported the Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA in Spanish). Along with being detained for nine hours, the journalist claims police forced him to erase the recording.
Franco Farías, radio correspondent for the broadcaster Villa del Totoral in Córdoba, Argentina, was at the Jesús María Horse Training and Folklore Festival with a friend in his free time, he explained to the news channel TN.
According to the online newspaper Urgente 24, Farías decided to record the police using his cell phone after an arrest attempt became violent. Police arrested Farías and his friend when they saw the two watching the video while waiting for a bus.
"When they took me to the police station I explained I was a reporter and the situation went down hill from there. They asked me to erase the video and I refused. Later, I complied out of fear," said Farías, 21, reported the newspaper El Tribuno. Farías detailed the experience on his Facebook wall.
When Farías and his friend were released, they were forced to sign a document attributing their arrest to intoxication, which was unsubstantiated, according to the newspaper Día a Día.
While in police custody, the two men were mistreated and beaten, and were not allowed to notify their family, reported the newspaper La Mañana.
FOPEA joined the Press and Communication Union of Córdoba in calling for an investigation into the police's actions. According to FOPEA, Julio Herrera Martínez, intelligence secretary for the Police Conduct Court, said an investigation had been opened and that the two police officers in question had been accused.
