MEXICO-MURDER/VERACRUZ-FILE Mexico governor to be questioned over killing of photojournalist

Record ID: 144377

  • Title: MEXICO-MURDER/VERACRUZ-FILE Mexico governor to be questioned over killing of photojournalist
  • Date: 11th August 2015
  • Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (FILE) (REUTERS) PHOTO OF FLOWERS AND CANDLES NEAR ESPINOZA PHOTO ESPINOZA'S SISTERS CRYING AT FUNERAL MEDIA AT ESPINOZA'S FUNERAL MOURNERS AT FUNERAL GENERAL VIEW OF FUNERAL
  • Embargoed: 26th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA95CESX4WS4H7RTJ1FID018Q6F
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The governor of the Mexican state of Veracruz, Javier Duarte, will be questioned over the recent murder of five people in the country's capital, including a photojournalist, the mayor of Mexico City said on Monday (August 10).
    The killings of photographer Ruben Espinosa and four others on July 31 in an apartment in central Mexico City have prompted an outcry from free speech organisations and human rights activists and spurred protests in the capital.
    Espinosa, 31, who worked for the weekly magazine Proceso and the photo agency Cuartoscuro, had sought shelter in Mexico City earlier this summer saying he had been followed and threatened in the eastern state of Veracruz.
    "I reiterate that the information that we requested (from Veracruz Governor, Javier Duarte) is available at the Federal District's Attorney General. In the telephone conversation I reiterated that there is a provision to provide data by the state government and in that context I mentioned to him that we require a direct statement from the governor," Mexico City mayor Miguel Angel Mancera told media.
    In a rare move for Mexico, a group of investigators from the city prosecutor's office will travel to Veracruz on Tuesday (August 11) to take a statement from Duarte.
    "I have given instructions to the Attorney General's office in this capital so that tomorrow the deputy prosecutor for investigations goes with a team of public ministers and secretaries in order to coordinate with the Veracruz Attorney General to obtain this statement, relating to the facts that were gathered directly from the governor," added Mancera.
    In a letter to Mancera posted on the state government's website, Duarte wrote that his government was at the "absolute disposal" of the authorities.
    While official death statistics for journalists vary, the freedom of speech organisation Article 19 has said that Veracruz is the most dangerous place for freedom of expression in Latin America.
    Indeed, threats and attacks against journalists including murder have risen in the first two years of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration compared with his predecessor's time in office, Article 19 said earlier this year.
    In a March report, the journalist rights group found there were an average of 328 "aggressions" a year against journalists in 2013 and 2014, Pena Nieto's first two years in office.
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