MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguayan Senators said to harass newspeople and activists

Senator Lizarella Valiente was one of the main political figures targeted by the newspeople grouping

According to a statement from The Union of Journalists of Paraguay (SPP), several Senators in the South American country had allegedly harassed newspeople during Monday's session. Other entities grouping reporters were said to have issued concurring declarations whereby the lawmakers would have endangered freedom of expression.

In the SPP's view, accusations made in the plenary session by Senators Lizarella Valiente and Gustavo Leite against several journalists and social activists seeking to undermine the integrity of press workers constituted harassment.

“Worrying attack against journalists and activists. During the session of the House of Senators last Monday, July 8, within the framework of the debate on the NGO Control Law, senators made attacks against journalists and activists, with the clear purpose of harassing them”, the SPP statement read.

“We express our concern regarding these practices that imply an attempt to attack the freedom of expression of journalists and activists of different causes. It is healthy for democracy that all sectors can organize and express themselves freely, without falling into attacks or discrediting campaigns to impose positions,” the organization added.

“It is even more serious that the attacks have been made against journalists and organizations that have published publications and investigations that affect the political power, which is a clear retaliation against them. We remind, once again, that the authorities have a higher responsibility in this regard since their accusations and accusations can lead to acts of violence against journalists and activists,” the document went on.

“We call, once again, for a broad commitment to freedom of expression, in general, and particularly to the free exercise of journalism, in order to strengthen the foundations of our democracy. The judicial attacks, violence, harassment, and accusations against those who exercise their right to express themselves, which have been occurring recently, deteriorate and put at risk the democracy for which we have fought for so many years,” the SPP insisted.