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Alert

Former mayor and two paramilitary group members charged over 2003 murder of journalist

(FLIP/IFEX) - The following is an 8 June 2006 FLIP press release:

Colombia release - Former mayor and two paramilitary group members charged over 2003 murder of journalist

The Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalía General de la Nación) has pressed charges against two members of right-wing paramilitary groups for the 6 April 2003 murder of journalist José Emeterio Rivas Rivas in Barrancabermeja, the capital of Santander department, and against the city's former mayor, Julio César Ardila Torres, for facilitating paramilitary groups' actions in the region.

According to its 16 May 2006 press release, the Prosecutor General's Office's National Unit on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (Unidad Nacional de Derechos Humanos y Derecho Internacional Humanitario de la Fiscalía) has charged Pablo Emilio Quintero Dodino, alias "Bedoya", and Bolmar Said Sepúlveda, alias "Wilmar", with the crimes of sedition, conspiracy to commit homicide, multiple aggravated homicide, and the manufacture, sale and illegal possession of arms.

Mayor Ardila Torres was charged with the crime of sedition, for actions that facilitated paramilitary actions. The Huila newspaper "La Nación" reported on 18 May that the mayor was currently not in custody.

Rivas was a theologian and had directed the programme "Las fuerzas vivas" for Calor Estéreo radio station since 1999. On the programme, he frequently reported on irregularities in government administration, allowed listeners from the community to call in and comment during the broadcasts, and questioned the actions of illegal armed groups.

Rivas, 44, was murdered along with university student Pablo Emilio Montesinos. Their bodies were found, shot, on the Barrancabermeja-Santander highway. The journalist was apparently trying to meet with members of paramilitary groups to discuss threats made against him.

Rivas had been under the interior ministry's protection programme for journalists since January 2001, and had a police escort and communications equipment. A few days prior to his murder, he had asked the programme's officials to provide upgraded protection measures. (To see a summary of the case, in Spanish, click here: http://www.flip.org.co/Alertas/asesinatos/2003/ale08_04_03.htm .)