In Mexico, Four Convicted For Killing Photojournalist

 

NEW YORK, NY (April 8, 2008) - The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that four men have been convicted and sentenced to 11 years apiece in the November 2004 murder of Mexican photographer Gregorio Rodríguez Hernández.

On November 28, 2004, in Escuinapa (in the northwestern state of Sinaloa), armed men approached Rodríguez when he was eating with his wife and sons, 3 and 6, and opened fire, according to the Associated Press and local news reports. He was shot at least five times, at point-blank range, in the head, neck, and chest, and died instantly, reports said.

The 35-year-old photographer worked for the Mazatlán edition of the newspaper El Debate.

CPJ says that Judge Daniel Armenta Rentería convicted former Escuinapa police chief Abel Enríquez Zavala on charges that he acted as an intermediary between the muder's mastermind and the perpetrators. Convicted for carrying out the murder were Pedro Salas Franco, Francisco Pineda Sarmiento, and Elías Alvarez González.

Investigators have not publicly specified a motive or identified the person who commissioned the killing. While the investigation was not able to establish a motive for the murder, a colleague of the victim told CPJ that he believes the killing was in retaliation for Rodríguez’s work. Political columnist Fernando Zepeda said that Rodríguez had taken photographs of local officials, including former police commander Enríquez, with alleged drug traffickers.

The four defendants have appealed their conviction, according to press reports.   

 

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