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Alert

Judge orders journalist and magazine to pay compensation for moral damage to first lady

(IPYS/IFEX) - On 2 May 2006, Federal District 12th civil judge Carlos Miguel Jiménez ordered journalist Olga Wornat and the weekly "Proceso" to pay 1,958,000 Mexican pesos (approx. US$180,000) as reparation to the Mexican president's wife, Martha Sahagún.

The judge decided that Wornat and "Proceso" are guilty of publishing, on 27 February 2005, details about the annulment of the religious wedding of the current first lady with her first husband, Manuel Bribiesca. Sahagún filed the suit on 3 May 2005.

This is the second ruling against Wornat in less than two months. On 28 March, the Argentinean journalist was found guilty of moral damage to Manuel Bribiesca, son of México's first lady.

The plaintiff filed an accusation against the journalist in May 2005 after Wornat described in her book, "Crónicas Malditas", the luxuries and privileges allegedly enjoyed by Bribiesca. The civil judge, Bruno Cruz Jiménez, ordered the journalist to change the chapter of the book in which Bribiesca was mentioned and to pay an amount not yet established as compensation.

Wornat's lawyer, Cristian Zinzer, declared that they will appeal the rulings. "Proceso", on the other hand, pointed out in a note published on 3 May that the suit involves freedom of speech and the right to information, and that the resolution still has to be reviewed by a superior court, so the current ruling cannot be considered final.