The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) admitted the case of murdered Colombian journalist Hernando Rangel Moreno, reported the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) in a press release on its website on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. IAPA said it welcomed the decision and that Colombia bore international responsibility for violating the "articles of the American Convention on Human Rights regarding the right to life, freedom of expression, and legal protection and guarantees," according to the statement.
IAPA submitted the case to the IACHR in April 2000 after an investigation conducted by its Impunity Project that concluded there was an "unjustified delay" in the criminal investigation into Rangel Moreno's killing in 1999. Through the influence of the IACHR, IAPA hopes the Colombian government will re-open, investigate and solve the case quickly.
Supposedly, Hernando Rangel Moreno's support of a strike and critical statements against the municipal government of El Banco Magdalena, Magdalena department, Colombia motivated his killing on April 11, 1999, according to IAPA and newspaper reports from the time. The journalist was at a friend's home when a gunman approached him and shot him four times in the head. The case remains unsolved.
Rangel Moreno was a lawyer, independent journalist and editor of the publications Magdalena 30 días, Sur and Región. His editorials usually encouraged protests, reported the Impunity Project.
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.
