Reporters Without Borders condemns Rádio Meridional manager Cláudio Moleiro de Souza’s death in a shooting by an intruder inside the radio station in Jaru, in the northwestern state Rondônia, on 12 October. A colleague, Alberto Dutra Duran, was wounded in the attack.
“We urge the authorities to act quickly in order to shed all possible light on this murder,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The police have ruled out theft as a motive and have established that Souza was the target. As the motive is still unknown, were call on investigators to seriously examine the possibility that it was linked to his work as a journalist.”
After seeing a gunman enter the radio station, Souza and Duran hid in the recording studio. Believing he had left, they later emerged to seek help. It was at this moment that the gunman opened fire, fatally shooting Souza in the neck and wounding Duran in the arm. Duran is no longer in danger.
Souza was the sixth journalist to be killed in Brazil since the start of 2013, which has seen an increase in violence against journalists, in terms of both murders and police violence during demonstrations.
Pablo Jacob, a photographer with the newspaper O Globo, and freelancer Alexandro Auler were the victims of police violence while covering a demonstration in Rio de Janeiro on 15 October.
According to the Brazilian Investigative Journalism Association (ABRAJI), at least 85 journalists have been attacked, threatened or detained since the start of a wave of street protests in June.
