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The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today denounced the killing of radio host Édison Alberto Molina, in the town of Puerto Berrio, Colombia, on 11 September.

“I condemn the killing of Édison Alberto Molina,” the Director-General said. “It is essential that the perpetrators of this crime, which threatens the rights of Colombians to debate issues of concern, be brought to justice.”

A practicing lawyer, Édison Alberto Molina hosted a radio programme on legal affairs on community station Puerto Berrío Stereo where he regularly denounced corruption.

 Molina, 40, was shot repeatedly as he was riding his motorbike home from the radio station with his wife, who was slightly injured in the attack. He is reported to have received several death threats in recent months.

Molina is the third journalist killed in Colombia since the beginning of the year. He is remembered in the dedicated webpage, UNESCO Condemns Killing of Journalists.

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            Media contact: Sylvie Coudray, +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…”