FLIP welcomes verdicts in cases of two assassinated journalists

[Judi Lynn]

FLIP welcomes verdicts in cases of two assassinated journalists
15 April 2009

FLIP welcomes the recent verdicts in the cases of two assassinated journalists, Elacio Murillo Mosquera and Henry Rojas Monje.

On 17 March 2009, a Quibdó criminal court sentenced Franklin Isnel Díaz Mosquera, known as "Juancho", to 34 years in prison for the murder of journalist and lawyer Elacio Murillo Mosquera. The journalist was killed on 10 January 2007 in Istmina, Chocó, northwestern Colombia. Díaz is accused of having driven the motorcycle that Murillo's killer used to flee the scene.

Jorge Salgado, coordinator of the weekly "Chocó 7 días", told FLIP that he welcomed the verdict, but at the same time expressed his hope that the killer and the masterminds behind the crime would also be identified and brought to trial.

According to the prosecutor's office, "investigators were able to ascertain that days before the murder, Murillo had written an article on the presence of paramilitaries in the San Juan de Chocó area". The investigation also established that the murder was linked to the journalist's profession.

More:
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/102331