On Thursday, May 10, an appeals court ruled on the killing of Peruvian journalist Alberto Rivera Fernández in 2004 and absolved former Mayor Luis Valdez Villacorta of Coronel Portillo and former City Manager Zolio Ramírez Garay who were accused of being the masterminds behind the crime, reported the Press and Society Institute.
According to Peruvian police, the mayor of Comandante Noel, Marco Rivero Huerta, is the mastermind behind the killing of journalist Pedro Flores Silva who was killed in September 2011 in Casma, reported the newspaper La República.
A new report from the Office of Journalist Human Rights of the National Journalists Association of Peru (ANP in Spanish) shows 49 attacks against journalists recorded in Peru during the first months of 2012. Most assaults were done by public officials (17), followed by civilians (16), non-identified attackers (11), news outlet owners/managers (4), and police/military (1). Among the assaulted journalists, 12 of them were women, according to the report.
A Peruvian journalist was arrested for hacking into the emails of senior officials of the Ministry of Commerce, Foreign and Tourism and was accused of "alleged crimes of grand larceny, unauthorized access to a database and violation of correspondence".
During a session of the Peruvian Congress, the website for the newspaper Perú21 “was unexpectedly restricted" from all the computers in the congressional reporters' chamber, reported the Press and Society Institute.
A district attorney investigating the killing of Peruvian journalist Pedro Flores Silva in 2011 was shot to death on Monday, April 16, reported the Press and Society Institute.
The Supreme Court of San Martín in Tarapoto, Peru, voided a journalist's prison sentence for defamation against a local mayor, reported the news site Crónica Viva.
A Peruvian journalist received a death threat and was told to stop investigating Corina de la Cruz, the mayor of Tocache in the region of San Martín, according to the news agency Inforegion.
On the 29th anniversary of the killing of eight journalists in the community of Uchuraccay, Peru, the National Association of Journalists of Peru (ANP in Spanish) criticized a bill known as the "Mordaza Law," which they consider a restriction of press freedom in the Andean country.
Jailed Cuban journalist José Antonio Torres is facing 10 years in prison for corruption charges, according to the website Observatorio Crítico Desde Cuba.
Despite Peruvian President Ollanta Humala's campaign promise to decriminalize press crimes, the number of jail and probation sentences against journalists continue to rise in the Andean nation, Reporters Without Borders (RSF in French) claimed on Jan. 5.
On Wednesday, Dec. 7, a Peruvian journalist was sentenced to two years in prison for defamation, reported the newspaper La Primera.