The National Academy of Journalism repudiated the ruling against Daniel Santoro: 'It is a precedent of enormous gravity'

04/20/2021 3:46 PM

• Clarín.com

• Politics

Updated 04/20/2021 3:46 PM

The National Academy of Journalism on Tuesday expressed its

"deep concern

" over the ruling against Clarín journalist

Daniel Santoro

and questioned that federal judge Luis Rodríguez prosecuted him "

for a superficial contact with a source of information

.

"

"A journalist should not be judged by his sources and no one should be convicted without sufficient evidence," they warned through a statement.

The entity added that "the decision of Judge Rodríguez, which

we hope will be immediately revoked by the higher courts

, represents an extremely serious precedent for the practice of journalism."

"Santoro was convicted by Judge Rodríguez for a superficial contact with a source of information. And the magistrate did not provide any evidence in his extensive opinion of the alleged complicity of the journalist with a crime," said the institution made up of several of the main referents of journalism in Argentina. 

Then they remarked that

"the decision tries to destroy the prestige of a journalist who has been

awarded several times in the country and abroad for their investigative work.

"Although it affects Santoro personally, this resolution places all journalism at risk, because it places the journalistic task and its sources of information on the same plane," they completed. 

In addition, the representatives of the Academy expressed their solidarity with Santoro "in this difficult moment".

The controversial ruling

Judge Rodríguez prosecuted and seized the

journalist Santoro

on Monday for

850 thousand pesos

, in the case in which the attempted extortion of Marcelo D'Alessio against the customs agent Gabriel Traficante is being investigated.

In a resolution, Rodríguez - linked to the Peronist judicial operator Javier Fernández - considered that Santoro was a "necessary participant" in the maneuver despite the fact that

there is no proof that the journalist acted with fraud

or received an economic benefit from the false attorney.

Santoro's attorneys, Mauricio De Nuñez and Guido Sciarreta, are already working on the appeal of the ruling for "arbitrary", "unfounded" and for constituting another attack on freedom of expression.

The cause began in 2017 and Rodríguez only imputed Santoro in 2020, within the framework of Operation Puf against the cause of bribery notebooks.

D'Alessio is accused of having committed at the end of 2016 an extortion attempt

against Trafficker whose partners are on trial and on trial for an attempted smuggling in the Container Mafia case.

The same Trafficker is prohibited from leaving the country and an investigation by the Financial Information Unit (UIF) for alleged money laundering.

Kirchnerism against independent journalists

The national deputy for the PRO Jorge Enríquez warned that "the prosecution of Daniel Santoro for an alleged attempt to extort a businessman is a

new maneuver to persecute independent journalists by Kirchnerism

."

"Federal judge Luis Rodríguez seems to have acted following instructions from the Instituto Patria when issuing an absurd resolution in which he charged Santoro with the crime of extortion for having sent a person whom he would mention in an article about a smuggling case a WhatsApp so that he could express himself on the subject. That is, for the judge it is a crime to have carried out what the best journalistic practices indicate, which is the verification of the sources, "said the legislator. 

For Enriquez,

Rodríguez's "is a ridiculous judicial pronouncement

from all sides, but it is also very dangerous, because it seeks to intimidate all journalists who carry out investigations."

"Santoro is a professional with an impeccable career, which is precisely why he is persecuted.

They want to impose a single thought and fear," he

defended.

And he added that the judicial setback against the journalist represents "a scandalous fact that shows us the painful future that awaits us if we do not urgently become aware of what is at stake in Argentina: the rule of law, the Republic and freedom. ".

AFG

Look also

The unusual ruling: a journalist prosecuted by deduction