Journalist Luis Zabala Farell, who has been in jail since January on charges of instigating violence on his radio show, has said his accusers are intentionally delaying his hearings to keep him in prison and off the air, Bolivia’s National Press Association (ANP) reports via IFEX.
In an April 1 press conference, a World Cup and Sao Paulo soccer player for the Corinthians team, Adriano Leite Ribeiro, threatened to sue the newspaper O Dia, published in Río de Janeiro. The soccer player is complaining about an article that revealed a tape-recorded conversation in which he makes fun of the police and says he's not scared to drive without a license, reported the news site Terra.
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) criticized President Rafael Correa for suing journalists and media executives, and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged him to withdraw the legal complaints.
The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, asked for $80 million in damages from the newspaper El Universo, in a complaint filed for alleged libel, El Universo reported.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has filed a case against Colombia in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for failing to provide justice and protection for journalist Luís Gonzalo “Richard” Vélez Restrepo, who was attacked by soldiers in 1996, while filming farmers protesting the destruction of coca crops. See reports in English by the IACHR and Colombia Reports.
More than half of Panamanians believe freedom of expression is at risk in their country, where in recent months the press has been in conflict with the government of President Ricardo Martinelli, reported the AFP news agency.
The Supreme Court rejected an appeal initiated by a group of 15 journalists and academics against a constitutional provision that bans private individuals from buying electoral ad space on radio and TV, Milenio reports.
While President Rafael Correa’s March 18 announcement that he was suing a pair of journalists is still the talk of the town, the leader announced another lawsuit – this time against an editorial writer and the directors of El Universo newspaper, Vistazo.com reports.
President Rafael Correa has initiated a lawsuit against two journalists who published a book alleging corrupt dealings that benefited the leader’s older brother, El Diario reports. According to La Hora, the suit is for $10 million.
A special court in San Salvador sentenced 11 of the 31 suspects charged in the 2009 killing of a photographer to between four and 30 years in prison, reported EFE and La Prensa Gráfica.
The nation’s highest court unanimously upheld a ruling that obliges the state to omit discriminatory criteria and to maintain “reasonable balance” in allocating government advertising, Hoy newspaper and EFE report.
Argentine journalist Rafael Morán, who spent four and a half months in prison during the dictatorship (1976-1983) for writing about a disappeared dissident, testified in Mendoza about crimes against humanity by the military, Clarin reports.