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The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today denounced the killing of Mexican journalist Gregorio Jiménez de la Cruz and called for an investigation into the case.

“I condemn the murder of Gregorio Jiménez de la Cruz,” the Director-General said. “It is essential for the authorities to do everything in their power to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice. The safety of journalists depends largely on the ability of the judiciary to sanction those who use violence to suppress press freedom and limit the right of citizens to be kept informed.”

Jiménez de la Cruz, a crime reporter for the newspapers NotiSUR and Liberal del Sur, was abducted by armed assailants on 05 February in the city of Las Choapas in the state of Veracruz. His dead body was found six days later.

Since 1 January, 2013, the Director-General of 91�鶹������Ʒ���� condemned four killings of journalists in Mexico, including the present case. Her statements are posted in a dedicated page on UNESCO’s website.

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Media contact: Sylvie Coudray, s.coudray(at)unesco.org,  +33 (0)1 45 68 42 12

UNESCO is the United Nations agency with a mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom. Article 1 of its Constitution requires the Organization to “further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.” To realize this the Organization is requested to “collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommend such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image…”