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Freedom of Expression

Uruguay

PRINCIPLES 10 AND 11 OF THE DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (Use of defamation laws by public officials and desacato laws)

25.              The Office of the Special Rapporteur received information that during 2004, more than a dozen journalists were subject to criminal prosecution. One media outlet and two reporters were required to disseminate court judgments. In addition, four journalists and one media outlet were ordered to compensate public officials for information whose veracity was not doubted.[1]

26.              These included the case of Marlene Vaz, columnist with the weekly Opción Cero, of Río Branco, department of Cerro Largo, who on April 22 was found guilty of defamation and libel and sentenced to 20 months in prison; the sentence was suspended and commuted to one year under police surveillance. Vaz was sued by Jorge Antonio Rivas, an official with the local council.[2] She was also ordered to publish, on her own account, the court judgment in Opción Cero and in another newspaper in Melo, the capital of the department. On June 30, 2004, the Court of Appeals threw out the conviction for defamation but affirmed the judgment for libel; accordingly, the sentence was reduced to 10 months in prison, suspended.

27.              On March 10, 2004, in the department of San José, journalists Raúl Alejandro laguna y Susana Tomás Falero, of the program Agendiario, were ordered to pay compensation to two persons who had been accused of having mistreated a woman in an interview with her. The conviction was based on the argument that the interview should not be broadcast without verifying the accuracy of the accusations.[3] In addition, the journalists were ordered to pay compensation of US$1,200 for moral injury. According to the information received by the Office of the Special Rapporteur while preparing this report, the ruling was appealed.

28.              In May 2004, a criminal action was brought against journalists Ignacio Álvarez and Gustavo Escanlar of the program Las cosas en su sitio, on Radio Sarandí of Montevideo, for defamation and libel by a journalist.[4] The plaintiff sought a three-year prison sentence. She also brought a civil action against the radio station and the journalists for US$150,000. The trial ended in an order for the journalists to read a retraction on their program and to publish it in the daily El País.

29.              On August 13, in the department of Salto, journalist Diego Fernández and the daily newspaper La República were ordered to pay US$4,000 to four officials of a customs post, after having published a document from the local police that had a heading indicating that it was confidential. The customs officials mentioned in the document felt that their honor had been injured, and they instituted proceedings against the police chief and the journalist. The judge acquitted the police, but found the journalist liable for “moral injury.” The judgment was appealed. According to the judgment: “Although the media may try to answer that there is no information or document whatsoever that cannot be disseminated, that secrecy is not consistent with a democratic society, and similar arguments, clearly there are specific circumstances in which confidentiality–if not secrecy –may be in the nature of things, and its violation is only possible by the use of unlawful means.”

30.              On September 22, 2004, journalists Ignacio Álvarez, Gabriel Pereyra, and Cecilia Bonino of the program Zona Urbana, of Canal 10, were indicted on charges of defamation and libel by an official of the state postal service.

31.              On December 14, in Paysandú, journalist Carlos Digliani of the weekly El Regional was convicted and sentenced to five months in prison for defamation and libel, after a complaint filed by the local intendant. According to information received by the Office of the Special Rapporteur, the ruling was to be appealed.

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