12 December 2008

Alert

Journalist sentenced to one-month prison term for allegedly defaming senator


Incident details

Joseph Guyler C. Delva

journalist(s)

sentenced

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(RSF/IFEX) - One of Haiti's best known journalists, Joseph Guyler C. Delva, was sentenced to a month in prison by a Port-au-Prince criminal court on 10 December 2008 for defaming Sen. Rudolph Boulos. Delva is still free pending the outcome of an appeal. Boulos sued Delva after he said Boulos had a US passport. This would preclude him from being a senator as the 1987 constitution bans dual nationality.

The head of the Independent Commission for Assisting Investigations into Murders of Journalists (CIAPEAJ), Delva has also on several occasions accused Boulos of blocking the investigation into the April 2000 murder of Radio Haïti Inter director Jean Dominique.

"It is not our job to say whether or not Delva's allegations were defamatory, but we condemn the imposition of prison sentences for defamation and we hope this sentence will be quashed on appeal," Reporters Without Borders said.

For further information on the Dominique case, see: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/92231



Source:

Reporters Without Borders
47, rue Vivienne
75002 Paris
France
rsf (@) rsf.org
Phone: +33 1 44 83 84 84
Fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51
 

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Haiti

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