The Commission on Human Rights of the Federal District [Mexico City, CDHDF, Spanish acronym] asserted that Veracruz state authorities must exhaust all lines of investigation into the murder of journalist Anabel Flores Salazar, including those relating to her journalistic work.
In a statement, the CDHDF called for not criminalizing her, as local authorities have done, "in what constitutes a practice that contravenes and violates the personal right to dignity", instead of investigating,
The CDHDF expressed its condemnation of the murder of the journalist, a contributor to the newspaper El Sol de Orizaba, Veracruz, and the 32-year-old mother of two children, one 15 days old.
Complete text of CDHDF statement:
CDHDF Condemns Attacks on Freedom of Expression by Killings and Threats Against Journalists
CDHDF Condemns Attacks on Freedom of Expression by Killings and Threats Against Journalists
The Commission on Human Rights of the Federal District (CDHDF) condemns the serious attacks on freedom of expression that have occurred in recent days in Mexico City and the states of Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Guerrero—that it considers putting the practice of journalism at risk.
The CDHDF declares its condemnation of the murder of journalist Anabel Flores Salazar, a contributor to the newspaper El Sol de Orizaba, Veracruz, and 32-year-old mother of two children, one 15-days-old. In the predawn hours on Monday, February 8, the journalist was taken from her home by a group of armed men, and her body was found hours later on the Cuacnolapan highway in the municipality of Tehuacán, Puebla.
Veracruz state authorities must exhaust all lines of investigation, including her journalistic work, and stay clear of criminalizing her, as local authorities have done prior to investigating, which is a practice that contravenes and violates the personal right to dignity.
In prior weeks, two other journalists have been killed in our country. On January 21, journalist Marcos Hernández Bautista, 38-year-old correspondent for Voice and Image News [Noticias Voz e Imagen] of Oaxaca was killed. On January 22 journalist Reinel Martínez Cerqueda, 43-year-old announcer on El Manantiel [The Spring] community radio was killed. Both were shot within a few hours of each other.
Tuesday night, February 9, journalist Álvaro Delgado, a reporter for Proceso magazine, published in Mexico City, received death threats via his Twitter account. To ensure Delgado's safety, the CDHDF has requested precautionary measures from the appropriate authorities.
Also on Tuesday night, in Guerrero, journalist Miguel Ángel Arrieta, director of the newspaper El Guerrerense, reported that unknown persons were seeking his location in order to attack him.
These events are added to the list of more than 106 journalists killed and 25 disappeared from 2000 to 2015, according to figures from the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Freedom of Expression at the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic.
For the CDHDF, events like these violate human rights and the practice of journalism; therefore, the CDHDF warns of the urgency of strengthening mechanisms for the country-wide protection of journalists and the need to end the spiral of violence and impunity in these cases. Spanish original