Whether Lie or Truth, It’s a Crime

Two Uruguayan journalists, Federico and Carlos Fassano, have been sentenced to two years in prison for “attacking the honor of a foreign head of state.” That is a chilling development. Uruguay should abolish the law under which the brothers were arrested and tried; it is an aberration and an atrocious violation of press freedoms.

After spending 15 days in jail, the Fassanos are free pending an appellate court ruling. The case centers on an expose that they printed accusing Paraguayan President Juan Carlos Wasmosy of corruption in the handling of public works in his homeland.

During the trial, the judge refused to consider the documents the journalists had gathered to substantiate their charges against Wasmosy. She maintained that the law makes such journalism a crime, regardless of veracity.

The Inter American Press Assn. sent a letter of protest to the president of Uruguay, Julio Maria Sanguinetti, who offered no comfort. The law is the law, he said, adding that when journalists are in violation it is up to judges to punish them. The Uruguayan president correctly declared that he cannot and should not interfere in the decisions of the judiciary. He could, however, exercise leadership by sending a proposal to the national Congress to abolish this archaic constraint on the rights of the press.