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Police Tap Two TV Journalist’s Phone Calls 6/15/05 |
Reporters Without Borders today condemned the action of the Ecuadorian Police in
tapping and recording the phone calls of journalists Milton Pérez and Maria Fernanda Zavala of local TV station Teleamazonas since April 20th, the date of President Lucio Gutiérrez's overthrow in a popular uprising.
"The sole aim of these police dirty tricks is to put the news media under
state surveillance," the press freedom organization said. "Ecuador's political instability and attempts to prosecute members of the ousted government do not justify tapping journalist’s calls without their knowledge."
Reporters Without Borders added: "We call for a thorough investigation to establish who was responsible and we think the judges who approved the
tapping should be required to defend their decision."
On June 10th, the police acknowledged
tapping the two journalists's mobile phones and recording their calls with the aim of locating a fugitive former minister, Oscar Ayerve, whom the journalists interviewed on of May 9th after he went into hiding on April 20th. A warrant was issued for Ayerve's arrest immediately after Gutiérrez's ouster because of his role in the use of violence against protesters during the uprising. He was on the run for a month thereafter.
It was a member of parliament, Carlos González, who revealed that the journalists's phones were being tapped. Agence France-Presse quoted him as saying the tapping began on April 20th and received only retroactive approval from a judge on May 17th.
The police have issued contradictory statements. While acknowledging they did the
tapping, they denied having the required equipment. They also said they had judicial authorization but denied getting it retroactively.
Zavala told Reporters Without Borders that Ayerve ceased to be a fugitive from justice on May 18th, when bail of 8,000 dollars was paid. "What I don't understand is why they continued to tap our phones after that date," she said. Source:
reporters sans frontières |
