Nicanor Linhares Batista, 42, was killed on Monday, June 30 in Limoeiro do Norte city in the northeastern state of Ceará, at the studios of radio station Rádio Vale do Jaguaribe AM, of which he was director and owner. According to an eye-witness who was at the station at the time of the murder, two hooded men entered the booth he was in at the time and shot him at least 10 times. They then fled on a motorcycle.
Rafael Molina, chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, declared, “We urge the Brazilian government to give this murder and others committed in the Brazilian provinces the same attention that at the time was given to that of Tim Lopes last year, given that most of the murders of journalists are carried out in areas remote from the major cities, in places where journalists appear to be less well protected.”
Batista was regarded as a controversial journalist who often exposed corruption in local government in his radio broadcasts in his station’s main program, “Encontro Político,” which he hosted each day. He had been assaulted and threatened on a number of occasions. The local Military Police was aware of the latest threat to Batista, made just three days before his death.
Molina, editor of the Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, news weekly Ahora, recalled the murder of two other Brazilian journalists, Melyssa Martina Correia, editor of the arts and culture supplement of the daily newspaper Oeste Notícias in Presidente Prudente, São Paulo state, and Edgar Ribeiro Pereira, co-owner of the weekly Boca do Povo in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul state, who were killed on June 3 and June 9, respectively.
The IAPA is planning to send an international delegation to Brazil with the aim of meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to discuss crimes against journalists and other press freedom issues.
The IAPA’s Rapid Response Unit in Brazil is to carry out an investigation
into this and other murders of journalists, with the findings to form part of
an international advertising campaign being waged since earlier this year by
the IAPA to put and end to the impunity that surrounds many of such crimes by
bringing the situation to the awareness of the general public. For more information,
visit the Web site www.impunidad.com
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