Veracruz Governor Javier Duarte Denies Involvement in Journalist's Death Deutsche Welle
go to original August 12, 2015

The Governor of Veracruz Javier Duarte speaks during a press conference in Mexico City. (AP/Marco Ugarte)

The Mexican governor was interviewed by prosecutors Tuesday and denied involvement in the murder of five people in the capital. Among the dead was news photographer Ruben Espinosa, who was in self-exile because of threats he received in the coastal state of Veracruz.

Duarte said he fully answered questions from investigators and called suggestions he was behind the killing of Espinosa a "public lynching."

One suspect has been arrested based on a fingerprint found in the apartment in a middle class neighborhood of Mexico City.

Espinosa, 31, who worked for the weekly magazine "Proceso" and the photo agency Cuartoscuro, fled Veracruz in June after being intimidated and harassed. Duarte gave up his immunity as governor to testify, Mexico City prosecutors confirmed.

The killings of Espinosa and four others on July 31 in an apartment in central Mexico City have prompted an outcry from free speech organizations and human rights activists. Duarte has seen 13 journalists killed in the state since taking office in 2010 and three more have disappeared.

"I don't believe in special privileges," he said in a statement, referring to the accusations, "but I also don't believe in public lynchings," he added. "This is far from having value, far from the truth and covers up the real culprits."

Read the rest at Deutsche Welle

Related: Mexico's Ruben Espinosa Case: Female Victims Treated as Afterthoughts by Press (The Guardian)

Related: Did a Mexican Governor Have This Journalist Killed Over an Unflattering Photo? (The Daily Beast)

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