Spain
Two journalists arrested during political rallyPosted Dec 17 2008
A five-month prison sentence was requested Nov. 3 for two journalists who covered a demonstration by a radical Basque nationalist group in Pamplona, in the northern region of Navarre, Reporters Without Borders reports.
Reporter Asier Velez de Mendizábal of the daily Gara and photographer Lánder Fernández de Arroyabe of the Argazki Press agency were arrested and Arroyabe’s cameras were confiscated June 17 during a demonstration outside the Pamplona city hall. Basque Nationalist Action staged the demonstration in protest against the closure of some city hall offices because of its alleged links with the armed separatist group ETA.
Six demonstrators were charged with disturbing public order and disobeying authorities. The journalists were charged with “complicity in disturbing public order.”
“The prosecutor’s position is incomprehensible,” Reporters Without Borders attested. “Firstly, because in his account of the events, he accepted that the two journalists were not part of the demonstration. Secondly, because they had press accreditation and were just doing their work.”