Am primit pe adresa redactiei urmatoarea stire pe care o reproducem, din spirit de solidaritate cu jurnalistul latvian Imants Liepins. Mai exista curaj in lume si credem ca aceia care il au merita sa fie cunoscuti si sprijiniti prin orice mijloace:
Latvian journalist attacked after investigating
money laundering and toxic waste trafficking
Press freedom muted with a knife
Riga/Latvia 08-12-2008
Latvian investigative journalist Imants Liepins who has written numerous shocking articles on multimillion economic crimes has been attacked by two men in Riga; and his neck was cut with a knife. Attackers also took his laptop and USB flashes while threatening to kill him. They did not take journalist’s money or other personal belongings.
Police has begun an investigation; one of possible versions – journalist’s job. Imants Liepins investigates economic crimes with roots in Switzerland, Italy, UK, the BVI, the Netherlands, Germany, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Russia etc.
The recent stories I.Liepins was working on, includes the following: the traces of illegal weapons smuggling – leading from 1990’s bloody warfare in Western Africa (Liberia, Sierra Leone) to Latvia. The links of these crimes also leads to former Yugoslavia, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Also, this year Liepins was participating in another international research project which was led by Italian colleagues and included following the toxic waste trafficking via Baltic states to Africa and Italy.
Latvian Journalists Association already has expressed it’s indignation on assault:
«It is a clear attempt to silence a Latvian journalist, who consistently and regularly informs the society about the international criminal processes» says Dr. Juris Paiders, chairman of Latvian Journalist Association.
Latvian Journalists Association invites law enforcement institutions to find and punish not only the contractors of this crime, but also those who ordered the assault. Many of Latvian journalists have expressed their support to Imants Liepins’ job.
«I think that such situations are primarily against interests of society, because with threatening lives of journalists, it is tried to limit societies’ possibilities to receive information» says Imants Liepins. «Every journalist has heard curses, dissatisfaction with articles and threats, but it is very seldom when threats come true.»
Together with other researchers, Imants Liepins has also founded a non-profit NGO Public Investigation Bureau. The day before the assault he held a news conference informing other journalists and law enforcement institutions about shocking facts recently discovered about Liberian ex-dictator Charles Taylor’s (who is defending himself now at the front of the Hague War Crimes Tribunal) weapon trafficking schemata. This trafficking included huge network of persons and companies in Italy, Switzerland, which are represented in Latvia by controversial Swiss lawyer Rudolf Meroni who was previously arrested in France due to investigations related to weapons and diamond smuggling, and money laundering. Now he has huge assets in Latvia.
Paolo Fusi, Italian investigative journalist, President of the Associazione Pandora and Chairman of IBI World, says:
«This is the evidence that Imants Liepins has been left alone from the State and the media. The organized crime is able to beat a journalist of global relevance like Imants Liepins only if he has been abandoned and ignored. All the single journalists and politicians in Latvia are guilty of the attempt to set an end to his life and to his work. With his investigations Imants Liepins shown a picture of the Latvian reality, which was unknown in the whole European Union: a country, which seems to be overwhelmed by several businessmen coming from other countries, which went to Riga because they have been obliged to leave their homeland because of their dodgy activities. Riga welcomed them and gave them the chance to restore their illegal activities acting in a virgin territory. These criminals have now power and arrogance – but most of all the media are too scared and the politicians too well paid to defend the country from these new invaders. After the assault on Imants Liepins we know that freedom and democracy are only empty words in Latvia, a country where a businessman is able to give the order to kill a journalist and risk no consequences. The wounds of Imants Liepins are the wounds of the healthy and hopeful part of Latvia, which is struggling for sustainable development, prosperity and freedom and is faced with the monster of the global organized crime. We also should ask Brussels to do something, because the European Union can’t afford to have inside of the border a country, which is threaten independent and couraged journalists the same way the regime is doing in Russia or in Iran.»
Iata o stire de negasit – deocamdata – in paginile marilor cotidiene sau in buletinele de stiri de la televiziunile occidentale. Mai mult ca sigur ca ar deranja pe multi din spatiul respectiv. Tocmai de aceea mi se pare demn de tot respectul indemnul la solidaritate exprimat de autorul acestei stiri – un gest care ar trebui sa aiba un ecou pe masura!