Cablegate: Furor Continues in Sally Bowen Case

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LIMA 002132

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DRL FOR CNEWLING, KCUMBERLAND

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KPAO PE
SUBJECT: FUROR CONTINUES IN SALLY BOWEN CASE

REF: LIMA 2074

Sensitive but Unclassified. Please protect accordingly.

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Summary:
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1. (U) British journalist Sally Bowen may have been
convicted for defamation in a Peruvian court, but her cause
continues to gain converts and momentum in the court of
public opinion. Bowen found herself bolstered from support
by a variety of sources over the weekend, including: the
British and U.S. Ambassadors, two GOP Ministers, the
President of the Congress, the OAS Rapporteur for Press
Freedom, the Head of the Peruvian Prison System (INPE), and
press associations and fellow journalists. Rather than
muzzling Bowen, Judge Catacora,s decision, which the Judge
himself could not coherently explain in a meeting with the
press on 5/6, has fired up press freedom advocates, critics
of the Justice System and those opposed to narcotrafficking.
End Summary.

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British/US Ambassadors Weigh In
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2. (U) Statements on Bowen's behalf by the British and U.S.
Ambassadors on 5/5 received wide coverage. Lima major daily
"El Comercio" quoted Ambassador Struble, who questioned how
Bowen could be sued for libel in the Zevallos case when
Zevallos himself had figured in the famous "Kingpin List" of
global narcotraffickers issued by the U.S. Government in
2004. Likewise, British Ambassador Richard Ralph expressed
his "surprise and worry" over the implications of the Bowen
decision. The Rapporteur for Press Freedom at the OAS,
Eduardo Bertoni, reportedly has written to both Foreign
Minister Manuel Rodriguez and to Sally Bowen expressing his
concern over this case.

3. (U) Foreign dignitaries were not the only officials to
express shock at the decision, which was also rejected by
Justice Minister Eduardo Salhuana, Labor Minister Juan
Sheput, and Congress President Antero Flores-Araoz.
Salhuana, in particular, said that the judge in the case "had
committed an error" and expressed his hope that this would be
corrected on appeal.

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Journalists Take to the Street
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4. (U) Journalists organized two protests, the main one in
front of the Justice Ministry, on 5/6. The list of attendees
read like a who,s who from Peruvian media, press and
cultural worlds, including notable journalists/columnists
Alejandro Miro Quesada Cisneros, Gustavo Gorritti, and Mirko
Lauer as well as former Interior Minster Fernando
Rospigliosi, and Peruvian artist and Fulbrighter Fernando de
Szyszlo.

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Bowen's Best Ally: Judge Catacora
---------------------------------

5. (U) Judge Catacora has been Bowen,s most effective ally
in the debate so far. His attempts to justify his decision
to the press on 5/6 backfired. The judge was forced to
concede that he had no "substantial evidence" against Bowen.
Instead, he said, his decision represented his "personal
opinion" in a highly unusual case and that it should not have
implications for press freedom. The judge confessed that he
found against Bowen because she could not produce
documentation of the prison visit where she said she had met
an informant who had fingered Zevallos. That same day, the
Head of the Peruvian Prison system (INPE) announced that the
log for the prison in question had been doctored, backing up
Bowen,s account during the trial proceedings that a page was
missing in the logbook when she returned to check the date of
her interview. INPE's investigation continues.

6. (U) The press, not surprisingly, has started to dig into
Judge Catacora's record. When the judge said that he had not
had much time to render the decision in the Bowen case, "Peru
21" revealed that he has held it for over a year. Daily
"Correo" reported that not only did Judge Catacora lack
previous experience in penal cases when he was named as a
criminal judge, but that in his original appointment to his
present position, he had not received sufficient points on
his exam to qualify.

7. (U) Meanwhile, the Office of Judicial Control (OCMA),
which investigates allegations of misconduct by judges, has
announced that it is opening an investigation into possible
prejudicial conduct by Judge Catacora. The judge was
captured on videotape during an appearance some months ago
discussing the Bowen case and highlighting what he considered
weaknesses in the journalists' arguments while the matter was
still being heard before him.

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Comment:
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8. (SBU) The Bowen case has justifiably become a cause
celebre for press freedom. Any political mileage that
narco-kingpin Fernando Zevallos may have hoped to get from
Bowen's "conviction" for defamation has been swamped by the
protests against this obviously unjustifiable decision. Left
unsaid in the criticism of Judge Catacora is the implicit
recognition that he was paid off by Zevallos. End Comment.
STRUBLE

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