"Chilean authorities must drop criminal charges against journalists Daniel Labbé and Josefa Barraza and ensure journalists can work without restrictions, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday (April 25th).
On Tuesday, Labbé, an independent journalist, was sentenced to a suspended prison term of 61 days on charges of public disorder, the journalist told CPJ by phone. Labbé was detained and physically attacked by police on January 29, 2021, while he was covering a protest in the capital Santiago, according to news reports. Labbé told CPJ that he was formally charged with public disorder upon his release the next day, after police claimed he attacked them.
'I was there as a journalist. The judge did not believe the evidence I brought: the pictures and videos of my coverage. He believed the testimony of those officers who lied and said they saw me throwing stones and attacking them,' Labbé said.
On Monday, April 22, Josefa Barraza, director of the independent news website El Ciudadano, faced the first hearing of a lawsuit filed against her in Santiago by former congresswoman Andrea Molina. Molina formally filed a legal complaint against Barraza that accused her of libel in her coverage of Molina’s new role in the municipality of La Reina."
