Yuri Galván Quesada, journalist for the newspaper Provencia in Michoacán, claims to have been illegally arrested while investigating corruption in a health services center in Morelia, the capital of the Mexican state of Michoacán.
Galván said she inquired why the Dr. Juan Manuel Gonzáles Ureña Health Center was charging uninsured patients for its services, which should be free according to the law, when the center's director called the police and ordered Galván be taken to a municipal detenion center.
On Friday, August 5, Galván accused Dr. Gildardo Oropeza, the center's director, before the State Human Rights Commission (CEDH in Spanish) of intimidation, harassment, illegal arrest and detention, arbitrary use of police force, abuse of power, and violating the freedom of expression, according to the newspaper El Sol de Morelia.
Galván said that when she went to get a response to the accusation the director responded violently. "Upon being discovered, he wanted to humiliate me and called the police," Galván told local media.
Michoacán has the third highest number of attacks against journalists in Mexico. The State Human Rights Commission reported 10 complaints of this type in 2010.
Click here to see the Knight Center map of attacks against journalists in Mexico.
