The International Federation of Journalists has urged the judicial authorities in Argentina to reconsider their shock decision to release Gregorios Rios who was sentenced to life imprisonment for plotting the murder of José Luiz Cabezas, a photographer killed on 25 January 1997.
"We shall never forget Cabezas," said Celso Schroeder, president of the Federation of Latin America and Caribbean Journalists( FEPALC) and regional IFJ affiliate, "and we wish to express very clearly our feeling of utter dismay that the person who ordered the kidnapping, torture and the cruel murder of Cabezas is released by the same Court of Appeal and Justice which had sentenced him to life imprisonment. "
The IFJ expresses its total solidarity with our colleagues of the Argentinean Federation of Press Workers (FATPREN) who have been campaigning for justice in the Cabezas's murder case. Unfortunately, out of the nine people convicted of his murder, only two have not had their sentence reduced and remain in prison.
FEPALC declared that "the culture of impunity prevents" holding Cabezas's murderers properly to account.
There remains the possibility for an appeal to the Supreme Court against the early release. The IFJ will continue to call for justice and the end of impunity for José Luis Cabezas's killers.
For more information contact the IFJ at + 32 2 235 2207
The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries worldwide