The Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA in Spanish) denounced another case of police abuse against a journalist in the northeastern province of Misiones that took place on Nov. 10, according to the group's website.
According to FOPEA, writer for Misiones Cuarto and photographer for the newspaper Primera Edición, Mario Fedorischak, 53, was beaten by local police while he covered the arrival of prisoners from a police station.
The reporter was surrounded by five uniformed police officers who subdued him, grabbed him by the neck to beat him with clubs, fists and kicks, and then finally took him to the police station, reported the newspaper La Nación. There, police seized his camera, film and a Handycam digital recorder. His motorcycle was damaged and he was stripped of his clothes while he was beaten, added the newspaper.
The reporter said the attack could have been a reprisal for his coverage of the "savage" beating of suspects by 20 police officers in the city of Posadas, according to a video posted by the website Taringa.
FOPEA called for urgente "action from the government of Missiones to detain the abusive police officers and take disciplinary actions against those involved," the group said in a statement. The request was related to previous attacks against journalists in the province.
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.
