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Legal Action
March 22
Jacobo Timerman, LEGAL ACTION
Police tried to arrest Timerman, one of Argentina's most respected journalists and former director of the now-defunct daily La Opinion, on charges of libel. Two police officers went to the offices of the newspaper El Buenos Aires Herald with an arrest warrant for Timerman, who now lives in Uruguay. The newspaper is the provisional address of the journalists' organization Asociacion para la Defensa del Periodismo Independiente, of which Timerman is a founding member. The warrant stemmed from charges of libel and defamation brought against him in 1988 by the then-presidential candidate Carlos Menem, charges of which Timerman was acquitted in two separate trials. However, about a year-and-a-half ago, the Supreme Court of Argentina, acting on President Menem's request, reopened the case. In a letter to President Menem, CPJ strongly protested the continued persecution of Timerman despite his acquittal in two trials and requested that the case be dropped. On April 10, a week after CPJ sent the letter, Menem announced that he would not pursue the charges against Timerman.
November 13
Joaquin Morales Sola, La Nacion and Telefe, LEGAL ACTION
The Supreme Court of Argentina, in a unanimous decision, acquitted Morales Sola on appeal of defamation charges. A criminal tribunal on Feb. 22, 1995, had given Morales Sola a three-month suspended sentence and a fine of US$30,000 for his description of an alleged conversation between former Argentine President Raul Alfonsin and Dante Giadone, a special secretary to Alfonsin. Giadone had sued when the description appeared in a 1990 book, even though the passage had already been published in the daily Clarin.
December 17
Pagina 12, LEGAL ACTION
Horacio Verbitsky, Pagina 12, LEGAL ACTION
Fernando Sokolowicz, Pagina 12, LEGAL ACTION
Ernesto Tiffenberg, Pagina 12, LEGAL ACTION
President Carlos Menem lost a libel suit he initiated in 1994 against Pagina 12, columnist Verbitsky, and top editors Sokolowicz and Tiffenberg. Menem was ordered by Judge Maria Laura Garrigos de Rebori to pay all the legal costs of the trial. In issuing her ruling, the judge said that in a democracy the press has an obligation to keep the public informed. Menem had sued Pagina 12 over an Oct. 30, 1994, article by Verbitsky that questioned the veracity of the president's claims that he had been tortured under Argentina's military dictatorship. Menem accused the daily and local human rights groups of plotting together to undermine his leadership.
For more information contact americasweb@cpj.org