About IFEX:

News by region:

IFEX Campaigns and Advocacy:

IFEX Email Products:

Opportunities and assistance:

Alert

RSF concerned over outcome in trial of journalist Jaime Garzón's killers

(RSF/IFEX) - On 9 December 2003, as the final hearing began in the trial of Juan Pablo Ortiz Agudelo and Edilberto Antonio Sierra Ayala, the two main suspects in the 1999 murder of journalist and humorist Jaime Garzón, RSF warned of the danger of a miscarriage of justice resulting from a mishandled investigation.

"We are extremely concerned at the possibility of a miscarriage of justice in this case as several of the testimonies used by the prosecution against the two defendants are not credible," the organisation said.

RSF said it was particularly concerned that the Prosecutor's Office and the Administrative Department for Security (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, DAS), an intelligence service under the president's authority, were sticking to a version of events that has been largely refuted in the course of the preceding hearings. Garzón worked for Radionet and Caracol TV.

"It is essential that an enquiry be carried out into the possibility that the DAS and the Prosecutor's Office deliberately mishandled the investigations, with the result that those who are really responsible for Jaime Garzón's death will not be brought to justice," RSF said.

"It is also essential that a new investigation be opened into Garzón's death, so that a murder that shocked all of Colombian society does not remain unpunished," the organisation added.

RSF has had civil party status in the case since 2002, when the courts accepted the argument that Garzón's murder in Bogotá on 13 August 1999 was a serious blow to free expression. The organisation is represented by Alirio Uribe of the "José Alvear Restrepo" Lawyers Collective, which also represents the Garzón family.

For further information on the case, see:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=8771