Threatened journalist killed

20 April 2011
Threatened journalist killed

A journalist who had been threatened for his critical coverage of criminal groups and local authorities was shot dead in the northeastern city of Vitória de Santo Antão, Pernambuco, report the Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo (ABRAJI) and other IFEX members.

Luciano Pedrosa, host of the TV show "Ação e Cidadania" (Action and Citizenship) on TV Vitória and contributor on Radio Metropolitana FM, was shot in the head at a restaurant on 9 April 2011. According to witnesses, Pedrosa was followed to the restaurant by two men on a motorcycle.

A police spokesperson said there was no indication it was a robbery.

According to the Knight Center, Pedrosa had received several threats, but he had never submitted a formal complaint about them. "On the threats, he had always spoken with me, because he was at the department all the time to ask the police to investigate issues he covered on his show. But he never submitted a police report, because he said he didn't fear anyone and thought it was all a joke," officer Maria Betânia Tavares, the lead investigator on the case, told Brazilian daily "O Globo".

Pedrosa's killing was the second shooting of a Brazilian journalist this year. Last month, critical blogger Ricardo Gama was seriously wounded when an unidentified gunman shot him in the head, neck, and chest as he walked in his Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood.