Versión Español
EspañolDiario Extra, a prominent Costa Rican newspaper, has accused the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) of tracing phone calls of its reporters and general director, Iary Gómez. According to an OIJ report obtained by the newspaper, the alleged 10-month spying operation aimed to find the names of the newspaper’s anonymous sources inside the judicial body.
OIJ eavesdropping of newspaper staff allegedly began when the newspaper published a story on a kidnapping case that involved an OIJ official; however, OIJ has denied these allegations. OIJ’s assistant director, Gerald Campos Valverde, stated that they weren’t investigating the newspaper but an official of the judicial branch. Campos Valverde added that the OIJ, alongside the Prosecutor’s Office Against Organized Crime, were investigating an information leak to a newspaper journalist, Manuel Estrada, which put victims and witnesses from the kidnapping case in danger.
The newspaper’s legal adviser, Carlos Serrano, announced that Diario Extra would request for an injunction with the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Chamber on behalf of Estrada, who was the main target of the operation. Serrano will also present this case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington D.C.
Source: Tico Times.
