Award-winning journalist César Estrada’s ongoing legal battle against censorship recently began a new chapter. In May this year, the Peruvian Supreme Court rejected his writ of cassation against a decision of the lower courts to sentence him to 10 years in prison. His case is emblematic of the struggles many indigenous journalists face throughout Latin America.
As a journalist with the Red de Comunicadores Indigenas del Perú – REDCIP (Network of Indigenous Communicators in Peru), César Estrada has worked tirelessly over many years to expose private and governmental corruption and abuses associated with a mining project in the Conga region.
A history of persecution
Starting in 2014, Estrada has had to face baseless, trumped up charges of kidnapping and theft. These related to a dispute between members of his community and representatives of the company implementing the mining project. Although he was acquitted of those charges, a first instance court convicted him for extortion on July 2017 and a second instance court upheld this decision in May 2018.
Over the years, Estrada has not only had to deal with the legal case against him. He has also been subjected to violent attacks and placed under surveillance along with his wife.
His case has attracted attention internationally, particularly from the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. She has referred to his case as an abuse of the criminal law to discredit people opposing large mining projects.
Estrada’s case, according to the Rapporteur, is one example of the criminalisation of environmental rights defenders in Peru.
Indigenous journalists
Like Estrada, indigenous journalists face criminalization and harassment in various guises throughout Latin America. In the case of Radio Aukan in Chile, the staff there were charged with broadcasting their signal without a licence and succeeded in a constitutional challenge against their prosecution with support from Media Defence. The Inter American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), in the case of Norin Catriman et al v. Chile, recently held that the state had deliberately misused anti-terrorism legislation against indigenous community leaders engaged in peaceful protests against government actions.
Estrada is now working with Media Defence in taking a constitutional challenge to the judgment of the Supreme Court. The basis of this challenge is that he was subjected to unlawful procedural restrictions and his right to freedom of expression was violated.
If you are a journalist or citizen journalist in need of support, please click here.
If you would like to support our work, please click here.
Recent News
Women journalists who inspire us
Threats and violence against women journalists endanger important democratic values, including freedom of expression and the right to information. Despite significant risks, women continue to investigate abuses of power—and we applaud those who are laying the groundwork for a better future. Whether covering instability wrought by war or how corruption impacts local farmers, every journalist […]
We’re recruiting: Legal Officer
About Media Defence Media Defence is a charity that helps media to defend their rights. We support independent media, journalists and citizen journalists who are under legal threat by making sure that lawyers are available to defend them. We engage in strategic litigation to improve the regulatory environment for media freedom, make grants to organisations […]
Les lois sur les “fake news” sont-elles le meilleur moyen de lutter contre la désinformation?
En décembre 2021, la Grèce a rejoint la liste croissante des pays qui légifèrent contre les “fausses nouvelles” (ou « fake news » en anglais). La modification du code pénal vise à poursuivre les citoyens grecs qui diffusent de fausses informations pendant la pandémie de COVID-19. Tout citoyen diffusant de fausses informations sur la santé publique risque […]