Costa Rica

New York, July 20, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is encouraged by a letter from Costa Rica’s top justice official stressing her government’s opposition to newly proposed press restrictions.

On June 8, CPJ sent a letter to Costa Rican President Oscar Arias expressing concern about a May 3 decision by the Costa Rican Constitutional Court to uphold defamation laws that set criminal penalties, including prison sentences of up to four months. CPJ was also alarmed by a bill recently introduced in Congress that seeks to regulate journalism by establishing strict controls and regulatory bodies.

June 8, 2006

His Excellency Oscar Arias
President of Costa Rica
Apartado Postal 520
2010 Zapote
San José, Costa Rica

Via Facsimile: +506 253 90 78

Your Excellency:

We are writing to ask you to use the authority of your office to reform Costa Rica's archaic defamation laws, which are incompatible with international standards of freedom of expression and rulings by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

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