The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) urged the Honduran authorities this Friday to consider “journalistic activity” among the causes of the death of Ricardo Ávila, the cameraman who was shot in the head last Sunday, apparently the product of a robbery.
Ávila, aged 25 and who worked as a journalist and cameraman for the Metro channel and radio station, from the city of Choluteca, in Honduras, was attacked last 26 May by individuals who shot him in the head while he was riding his motorcycle on his way to work.
In a statement, the president of the IAPA, Jorge Canahuati, asked “to deepen the investigations and not rule out his office as the cause of the attack.”
Canahuati also called for “taking into account all lines of investigation with the purpose of clarifying the crime in its entirety” .
The hemispheric organization, based in Miami (USA), aims to It is noted that, although the police manage the hypothesis of the attempted robbery, “the coverage that Ávila carried out of police events and social movements should also be investigated.”
The local organization Committee for Freedom of Expression (C-Libre), quoted by the IAPA, highlighted that in the past he denounced the frequent threats received by Metro personnel due to its editorial policy.
C-libre added that the murdered journalist was carrying “a considerable sum of money, as well as other valuables that were not stolen,” the IAPA statement collects.
“It is the policy of our organization to address and demand justice for acts of violence against journalists, even in cases where there is doubt as to whether it was related to their work,” said Carlos Jornet, president of the Freedom Commission of Press and Information of the IAPA.
“In this sense, the authorities must investigate promptly and thoroughly to sanction Tell those responsible and find out the truth,” added Jornet.
Ávila, who also directed the program Metro TV Noticias Fin de Semana, was admitted on 26 May to the Teaching Hospital in Tegucigalpa, where He died three days later from a gunshot wound to the head, with no exit wound, an official source from the hospital told journalists.
The source added that Ávila arrived at the hospital unconscious, in a state very serious health.
Among other complications, the Honduran communicator suffered a generalized cerebral edema, according to the official report of the Teaching Hospital.
The assailants who attacked Ávila shot him in the head and a bullet pierced the helmet he was wearing , local media reported the day of the crime.
According to IAPA statistics, this year Pablo Isabel Hernández Rivera, director and journalist, was murdered in Honduras. Sta of the community radio station Tenán 94.1 FM, “La Voz Indígena Lenca”, in the municipality of San Marcos de Caiquín, department of Lempira, on January 9.
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