BRAZIL
APRIL 28, 2005 Posted: June 15, 2005 Jorge Kajuru, SBT LEGAL ACTION Brazilian sports commentator Jorge Kajuru was sentenced to 18 months of overnight detention after being convicted on a criminal defamation charge. He remains free while his case is under appeal before the Superior Court of Justice, Brazil’s second highest court.
Photographer dies while covering protests
New York, April 21, 2005 Photographer Julio Augusto García Romero died Tuesday evening, after inhaling tear gas while covering a demonstration in downtown Quito, Ecuador’s capital. The demonstration, organized to protest the now-ousted President Lucio Gutiérrez, was moving toward the Palacio de Carondelet, the seat of the executive branch, when police fired water cannons…
Federal investigators take over probe
New York, April 18, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the loss of Mexican crime reporter Dolores Guadalupe García Escamilla, who died Saturday from injuries she suffered in an April 5 shooting in front of her radio station in the border city of Nuevo Laredo. García Escamilla had been hospitalized in critical condition since she…
Newspaper owner killed in Gulf Coast ambush
New York, April 11, 2005—The owner of a Mexican Gulf Coast daily that covered organized crime and drug dealing was killed in weekend ambush just hours after he oversaw the launch of a new edition of his newspaper. The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed alarm at the brazen attack and called on Mexican authorities…
MEXICO
APRIL 8, 2005 Posted: April 13, 2005 Raúl Gibb Guerrero, La Opinión KILLED—UNCONFIRMED Gibb Guerrero, 53, owner and director of the daily newspaper in the eastern state of Veracruz, was killed in an apparent ambush in the city of Poza Rica at about 10 p.m., according to local and international press reports. Four unidentified gunmen…
Editor in hiding after attack; CPJ urges vigorous investigation
New York, April 8, 2005—A Brazilian newspaper editor who denounced political corruption faces a long recovery and has gone into hiding with his family two weeks after being attacked by gunmen. The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Brazilian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation. Two unidentified assailants shot Maurício Melato Barth, owner and…
TV reporter granted early release from home confinement
New York, April 8, 2005—The Rhode Island television reporter convicted of criminal contempt for refusing to reveal a confidential source was granted early release from his home-confinement sentence this week. Jim Taricani, an investigative reporter with NBC-owned WJAR-TV in Providence, R.I., is expected to be released tomorrow after U.S. District Court Judge Ernest Torres found…