The Attorney General of Peru has asked a journalist to reveal the source for his latest story, said the website Crónica Viva. Carlos Ampuero Ferrerira, from the newspaper La Región, received the request from the Attorney General of the province of Maynas, added the website.
In his latest story, Ampuero revealed details about intervention by police against an Irish citizen for alleged public endangerment and use of a firearm while intoxicated, violence, and resisting authority. His story also questioned why the prosecuting attorney in the cased ordered the suspect released immediately, added Crónica Viva.
The National Association of Journalists of Peru (ANP), noted that the Political Constitution of Peru not only guarantees the free exercise of the freedom of information, but also the right of each person to “keep secret beliefs of a political, philosophical, or any other nature, as if keeping a professional secret,” said the website Periodistas en Español.
The website added that the Civil Penal Code of Peru also says “no one can be compelled to reveal information obtained under professional or confessional secrecy and when by order of the lay they can or must keep secret.”
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.
