On Thursday, May 10, an appeals court ruled on the killing of Peruvian journalist Alberto Rivera Fernández in 2004 and absolved former Mayor Luis Valdez Villacorta of Coronel Portillo and former City Manager Zolio Ramírez Garay who were accused of being the masterminds behind the crime, reported the Press and Society Institute.
The court concluded that there was not enough evidence to prove that the former mayor and former city manger ordered the journalist's killing, reported the newspaper La República.
Carlos Rivera, the lawyer representing the journalist's family, said that he will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, calling the ruling a "joke," since it “doesn't solve the greatest crime committed against the Peruvian press in recent years," reported the newspapers Perú21, El Comercio, and Correo.
"Thursday's ruling is the worst for the press. Journalists can be killed without punishing the perpetrators, and organized crime has a free pass for killing journalists," said Rivera, according to the Associated Press.
