The Peruvian Press Council (CPP) has requested that the new trial of those allegedly involved in the murder of Alberto Rivera Fernández be held by the National Criminal Court, whose authority to try cases of crimes against journalists was widened by the Judiciary Branch’s Executive Council last November.

The decision to create that special jurisdiction was at the urging of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA).

On January 27 the Transitory Criminal Division of the Supreme Court overturned the acquittal and decided to hold a new trial of Luis Valdez Villacorta, former mayor of the city of Coronel Portillo in Pucallpa province, the alleged mastermind of Rivera Fernández’ murder, committed on April 21, 2004.

The lawyers of the journalist’s family have not yet received a response to a request for the case to be taken up by the National Criminal Court, created under an administrative order to handle cases of murder and other crimes committed against journalists, rather than by a common court, whose independence and partiality have been questioned by the Supreme Court.

The order to hold a new oral trial was based on serious irregularities noted in the previous hearing.

Rivera Fernández hosted the critical program “Transparencia” (Transparency) broadcast by Radio Frecuencia Oriental in Coronel Portiullo, some 500 miles to the northeast of the Peruvian capital, Lima. His murder led to the dispatch by the IAPA of several international missions jointly with the Peruvian Press Council, who traveled to Pucallpa and Lima, where they held meetings with government officials.