After already serving a six-month sentence, Ecuadorian journalist Fredi Aponte again is in court, this time for fraudulent bankruptcy, according to El Universo.
The debate over criminalization of opinions and information was swept under the rug again in Ecuador. The lawsuit against the opinion editor of El Universo newspaper, Emilio Palacio, ended in surprise after a high government official withdrew the libel charges against him, El Comercio and EFE report.
An appeals court ruled that blogger Dania García would have to pay a $14 fine instead of serving a 20 month prison term for a family dispute, The Associated Press reports.
A court injunction prohibits the newspaper Diário do Grande ABC—which covers seven industrial cities in Greater São Paulo—from publishing articles about a city government's questionable disposal of school furniture that was said to be in good condition, the newspaper reports. The National Association of Newspapers calls the injunction prior censorship.
Enrique Lazo Flores, editor of the newspaper La Región, in the southern city of Ilo, Moquegua, was accused of attacking the honor of a regional politician Renato Ascuña Chavera, the Crónica Viva site reports. The prison sentence was suspended, but organizations denounced it as a serious threat to freedom of expression.
Businessman Aldo Zuccolillo, editor of the newspaper ABC Color, was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine plus interest to indemnify a judge who the newspaper had criticized for acquitting former President Luis González Macchi of embezzlement, ABC Color reports.
A former member of the secret police during the dictatorship has brought charges against Luiz Claudio Cunha for "moral harm" after being mentioned in the journalist’s book Operation Condor: The kidnapping of the Uruguayans, EFE reports (Spanish).
Cuban journalist Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces was taken to prison on Sept. 11, just over a month after being convicted of the crimes of resistance and disobedience.
The ministry sent a complaint to the São Paulo Public Prosecutor about a report published by the feminist magazine AzMina about abortion, considering that the article “may encourage the clandestine practice” of terminating pregnancy
After five months of imprisonment, Ana Belén Tovar, editor of the media outlet Entorno Inteligente and operations manager of Venmedios, was released after being detained since last November during a raid on the facilities.