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Kidnapped Honduran journalist found dead after two-week search

The dismembered body of Honduran television journalist Aníbal Barrow was identified on July 10 after a 16-day search, according to the country's Office of the Attorney General.

The host of the morning show "Aníbal Barrow y Nada Más," on local channel Globo TV, was kidnapped on June 24. The day before, he had interviewed a candidate from the opposition party ahead of general elections to be held in November.

According to authorities, the perpetrators killed the journalist with a firearm, partially burned the body, and later dismembered it before leaving the corpse in abandoned plastic bags near some sugar cane fields.

"This horrendous crime intimidates all journalists in Honduras. We strongly call on authorities to solve this crime, find those responsible and determine whether or not it was due to his job," said the Juan Mairena, president of the College of Journalists of Honduras.

The authorities arrested on July 5 four people in connection with Barrow's kidnapping and stated that there are more charges pending for four other suspects, according to La Prensa.

Barrow is now one of 36 journalists killed in Honduras since 2003, of which 29 occurred after the coup d'etat on June 28, 2009 that deposed then President Manuel Zelaya. La Prensa reported that only six of the cases have been brought to trial.

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.

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