Journalist murders go largely unsolved

MEXICO CITY (AP):

Mexico's governmental human rights commission says about 70 per cent of attacks on journalists go unpunished, largely because authorities fail to adequately investigate those crimes.

The commission says 82 journa-lists have been killed and 16 have gone missing since 2000. In that period, there have been 28 attacks on media offices or vehicles.

But suspects have been charged in only about one-fifth of the crimes, and less than one in 10 of the attacks have resulted in convictions for the perpetrators.

The commission expressed hope yesterday that a new law to protect journalists and human-rights activists will help reduce the level of impunity.

Estimates of the number of attacks vary. The government's special prosecutor for crimes against journalists says 67 journalists have been killed and 14 disappeared since 2006.