Freedom of Expression
Press release R199/22
Colombian state must
investigate murder of journalists Leiner Enrique Montero and Dilia Contreras
and punish those responsible
September 7, 2022
Washington, D.C. - The
Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression (SRFOE) of the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) condemns the murder of
journalists Leiner Enrique Montero Orga and Dilia Contreras Cantillo in a
village of Fundación, Magdalena department, and urges the State to investigate
the facts fully, effectively and impartially, taking into consideration the
journalistic work as a possible motive for the crime, and to punish those
responsible.
According to available
information, last August 28, two unknown individuals intercepted and shot
journalists Leiner Enrique Montero Orga and Dilia Contreras Cantillo, who were
returning from a journalistic coverage in the village of Santa Rosa de Lima. As
this Office learned, cameraman Joaquín Alberto Gutiérrez, who accompanied
Montero and Contreras in the back of the vehicle, was shot twice in the arm and
is currently hospitalized in Fundación hospital.
Leiner Enrique Montero
was the director of the radio station Sol Digital Stereo in the municipality of
Fundación and wrote on social networks through his page Leiner Montero
historias, on various topics of general and local interest. Dilia Contreras had
worked as a reporter and broadcaster in several media in the cities of Bogotá
and Santa Marta and was currently working with Montero in his informative page
in social networks. According to the information reported, hours before the
murder, Montero had been involved in a discussion in which he had received a
threat from a person who was in the place where the journalists were working. SRFOE
learned that Montero had been the target of several threats in recent years,
and that for that reason a few months ago he had uninstalled the transmitters
of the radio station he had in the municipality of Fundación.
The Rapporteur’s
Office reiterates that the murder of journalists and communicators for reasons
that could be related to their journalistic work constitutes the most serious
violation of the right to freedom of expression. Lethal violence against the
press not only directly violates the right to life, but also aims to suppress
the right of journalists to express themselves and inform and generates a
notable effect of self-censorship. Likewise, this Office has pointed out on
previous occasions that violence against journalists also seriously affects the
social and collective dimension of the right to freedom of expression, insofar
as it violates the right of societies to receive information and ideas of all
kinds.
The authorities have
indicated that they are working to clarify the facts and identify the
perpetrators. The mayor of Fundación, Carlos Sierra, announced the holding of
an Extraordinary Security Council together with the Magdalena Police and the
Prosecutor's Office, on August 29. In addition, the colonel of the Magdalena
Police referred that one of the main hypotheses of the crime would be related
to "an act of intolerance".
This Office urges the State to continue with the investigations in a
timely and complete manner and recalls that the lack of punishment for crimes
against the press encourages the repetition of violence and silencing.
The Rapporteur’s
Office appreciates that the highest authorities have publicly and timely
condemned the facts, requesting "an urgent investigation to find those
responsible for this crime because, in Colombia, the press must have the
guarantees to do its work", and instructing the Ministry of Defense to
take action to "guarantee the protection of the life and safety of
citizens throughout the territory". For the Office of the Special
Rapporteur, messages of this type rejecting violence and supporting the work of
journalists -especially when they come from the highest levels of government-
constitute an important preventive and protective measure for the press, and a
gesture that reinforces its value and legitimacy in democratic societies and
strengthens freedom of expression. The Special Rapporteur’s Office encourages
that these practices be replicated in all public bodies and levels of
government.
Finally, this Office
calls on the Colombian State to increase its efforts to prevent violence
against journalists and impunity for these crimes and recalls that this
obligation is accentuated in situations or areas in which there is or has been
detected a special risk for journalists working in the media. As the IACHR and
its Special Rapporteur Office have previously pointed out, compliance with the
obligation of prevention by the State is of vital importance in those countries
where there are areas in which journalists have opted for self-censorship, to
prevent the phenomenon from continuing to replicate itself.
The Office of the
Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression is an office created by the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to stimulate the hemispheric
defense of the right to freedom of thought and expression, considering its
fundamental role in the consolidation and development of the democratic system.