Justice for Georgia’s journalists
How should the Tblisi authorities respond to the police assaults on reporters covering anti-government protests at the end of May? Boyko Boev reports
Journalist’s body located after drug boss confesses
The ongoing violence against Mexico’s media workers means there is little surprise when another journalist is found dead. Twelve journalists have been killed in Mexico in the last 18 months, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). But the recent discovery of the body of Noel Lopez Holguin marks the first recent case where the state can prove direct link between the murder of a journalist and drug traffickers. Holgiun disappeared on 8 March. His body was found in a shallow grave in a hamlet near Jaltipan, his hometown, after police arrested a local drug boss who is part of the Zetas, a violent local drug cartel.
Gang leader Alejandro Castro Chirinos, nicknamed El Dragón, confessed to killing the journalist — Holguin’s camera had been found in his possession.
Holguin’s March disappearance followed the February kidnapping of Fabian Santiago Hernandez, owner of La Verdad of Jaltipan, the newspaper where Holguin worked.
The newspaper published several stories condemning drug cartels and the local police who collude with them.
Hernandez was kidnapped after he wrote an open letter to President Felipe Calderon, published on FaceBook, denouncing the local police. His son was also kidnapped, but both of them were released unharmed a few days later. Jaltipan is a known Zetas strong hold.
Mexico: Missing journalist, Noel Lopez Olguin, found dead
The body of missing Mexican journalist, Noel Lopez Olguin, was found in Veracruz on 1 June. Lopez, a columnist for a small local newspapers, was kidnapped from his home by two gunmen in March. Throughout his career Lopez was critical of local corruption and newspapers are now distancing themselves from his work for fear of reprisal attacks.
UK: Max Mosley renews court bid for new privacy laws
Former motorsport chief Max Mosley has applied to appeal the European Court decision last month that ended his efforts to change Britain’s privacy laws. The court in Strasbourg threw out the Mosley’s bid for the subjects of newspaper stories to be given “prior notification” of publication. Mosley launched the case after the News of the World printed intimate details about his sex life in 2008. The appeal filed by Mosley’s lawyers to the Grand Chamber before will be the last opportunity for the case to be heard.