Alejandro Carrascal Carrasco, director and editor of the regional weekly newspaper Nor Oriente, was arrested in Bagua, capital of Utcumbamba province, Amazonas department, on 11 January and held in police custody overnight. He appeared in court the next day where he was given a one-year prison sentence for allegedly defaming a local official in a series of articles alleging corruption in the Utcumbamba technological institute. The case was brought by a former director of the institute in 2005.

Carrascal, who reportedly suffers from high bloody pressure, fainted during the hearing and was taken to hospital. However, the judge completed the sentencing in his absence and the editor was transferred the same day from hospital to the San Humberto prison in Bagua. He has reportedly appealed the sentence.

There were a number of apparent irregularities in the trial. In addition to being sentenced in absentia, Carrascal says he had not received any notification that the court’s decision was due. According to one local press report, the defamation case against him had previously been abandoned by the plaintiff.

Local journalists and Carrascal’s family have condemned his conviction as an act of “revenge” and the prison sentence is widely seen as punishment for his editorial line. The National Association of Journalists (ANP) protested against his “arbitrary detention.”

Nor Oriente is said to be very critical of the authorities and Carrascal has been outspoken in his defence of the indigenous population and the Amazon region. For example, he publically criticized the government over the security forces’ treatment of indigenous communities protesting against oil and mining projects in Bagua in June 2009 during which dozens of indigenous people were killed, scores were detained and around 200 injured.

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This is the second case of a well-known Peruvian journalist being imprisoned for defamation in just over a year. Television presenter Magaly Medina was given a five-month sentence in October 2008 for allegedly defaming a football player. She was released at the end of 2008 after serving half of her sentence.

English PEN asks to send apeals to the President of Peru protesting the sentence handed down to Alejandro Carrascal Carrasco. Here you can find the details.