The chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Rafael Molina, said that the organization was concerned at “the course the investigations have taken and we fear that the crime will go unpunished, given that there are tangible grounds for such fears – such as the police report insinuating that Lopes was negligent about his personal safety and might have brought about his own death, and the murder in questionable circumstances of three suspects in the crime.”
Lopes, a reporter and producer for the TV Globo television network since 1996, disappeared on June 2 from the Villa Cruzuero shantytown in Rio de Janeiro as he was compiling a report on drug traffickers’ influence and control over local leisure-time activities. Initial investigations showed that drug traffickers led by Elias Pereira da Silva, a.k.a. Elias Maluco, put Lopes on trial, tortured him then burned his body. His remains were identified on July 5 after DNA testing.
The IAPA’s Molina, editor of the Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, news magazine Ahora, mentioned allegations that Pereira da Silva, the main suspect in Lopes’ murder, was being shielded by corrupt police officers. He urged the state and federal governments in Brazil “by your action to restore Brazilians’ confidence in the police, politicians and other public agencies and to pledge to solve this and other murders of journalists that remain unsolved.”
In just over a week three people accused of taking part in Lopes’ murder have been killed. They were Maurício de Lima Matias, a.k.a. Boizinho, slain on August 8; André da Cruz Barbosa, a.k.a. André Capeta, August 13, and Flévio Reginaldo dos Santos, a.k.a. Buda, August 15.
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