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Alert

Journalist detained by Public Prosecutor's Office security director

(IPYS/IFEX) - On 24 June 2009, journalist Rogelio Peláez, the editor of the monthly "Larga Vista" in La Paz, reported that he was detained by the security director for the Public Prosecutor's Office, Major Octavio García, when he was covering a protest by two women who were expressing their outrage over the disappearance of their relatives during the dictatorship of the 1980s.

The journalist remained in custody with the two women for eight hours in the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The incident took place outside the offices, when the two women were being removed from the area by security guards. According to the journalist, the guards were following orders issued by García, whom the journalist taped and attempted to interview. It was then that the guards pushed and detained Peláez, even though he identified himself as a journalist.

The National Press Association (ANP) was unable to get in touch with the district prosecutor, Jorge Gutiérrez. An attempt was also made to talk to García, but his secretary was unable to locate him.