About IFEX:

News by region:

IFEX Campaigns and Advocacy:

IFEX Email Products:

Opportunities and assistance:

Alert

Hearings begin in Bravo murder case

(WiPC/IFEX) - The WiPC of International PEN is appalled at the 9 November 2004 killing of journalist María José Bravo and calls upon the Nicaraguan authorities to ensure that her killer is brought to justice.

Bravo, 26, the Chontales correspondent for "La Prensa" and "Diario Hoy" newspapers, was covering a recount of votes cast in elections held on 7 November when she was reportedly shot at close range by former Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC) mayor Eugenio Hernández González. The shooting occurred outside a vote counting centre in Juigalpa, a city in the department of Chontales. Supporters of the PLC and the Alliance for the Republic (APRE) coalition were involved in clashes over the results of the elections. Bravo was apparently talking to people outside the centre when she was shot. She died before reaching hospital. Police arrested Hernández González close to the scene of the crime as he tried to escape. The motive for the killing has yet to be determined.

The first hearing in the case took place on 17 November. The proceedings, however, were soon mired in controversy. The forensic report on the killing concluded that Bravo had been shot at point-blank range in the chest. There were apparently burn marks on her skin caused by being shot at such close range. The revolver was allegedly fired from inside a bag held by the accused, and witnesses declared that Hernández González shot straight at Bravo. However, the initial police ballistics report suggests that Hernández González fired into the ground and that the bullet ricocheted twice before hitting the journalist. Other sources have contradicted this hypothesis on the grounds that the bullet would not have been travelling fast enough to kill Bravo. Meanwhile, Hernández González claims that the bag was hung on a wall and that the gun went off when it fell and hit the ground. This version of events, however, has been ruled out after tests by experts at the police's crime laboratory. Prosecutors are currently deciding whether to lay charges of murder or culpable homicide.

On 17 November, Prosecutor General Julio Centeno Gómez announced that a special commission comprised of Public Affairs Ministry experts was being sent to Juigalpa to investigate the killing.

International PEN welcomes the setting up of a special commission but urges the Nicaraguan authorities to ensure that the commission, the police and the judiciary act expeditiously in order to bring Bravo's killer to justice.

One of the newspapers for which Bravo reported can be accessed at: http://www.laprensa.com.ni.