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Alert

Editor assaulted in Montevideo by suspected drug trafficker following death threats to editor and family

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF calls for protection for journalist César Casavieja, founder and editor of the weekly newspaper "Señal de alerta", who received death threats and was later assaulted after publishing a photo of a man suspected of drug-trafficking.

Casavieja was accosted and attacked by the suspected trafficker, Amir Alial González, alias "El Turco", in the Mercado del Puerto area of Montevideo on 16 March 2007.

The editor described to RSF what happened after Alial González got out of his car and headed towards him: "He was holding out his hand and smiling and I thought he wanted to talk to me," he said.

"But he asked me my name and when I told him, he began hitting me in the face. Three police officers intervened but they let my attacker go and handcuffed me".

The former reporter for Telenoche 4 TV and founder, in 2006, of the crime specialist weekly "Señal de alerta", had been investigating the case since June 2006, when Alial González had been arrested over a 100-kilo load of cocaine, about to be shipped through Portugal. Two months later, Casavieja published the alleged trafficker's photo in the newspaper.

After publishing the photo, the editor and his family began receiving death threats, which he reported to the police. Officers handling the case also received threats, while Alial González sued Casavieja for "defamation".

After his assault by Alial González on 16 March, the editor found himself accused of having assaulted the police officers. He explained, "The police report produced after the assault was altered: two officers were present instead of three and witnesses were said to have seen me physically attack the officers".

The journalist said that Alial González was still at liberty even though he had admitted, when arrested in June 2006, to having carried out the loading of the shipment containing the cocaine, although he denied "ever knowing anything about the drugs".

"Drug-trafficking is a very high-risk subject for the press," RSF said. "How can it be that César Casavieja's assailant, who was arrested red-handed loading the cocaine, is now at large? But above all, how is it possible that police let him go and arrested the victim? We call for protection for the journalist and for the interior ministry to be vigilant about this case."