Ecuadorian lawyer among the preselected to assume charge of Rapporteur

Ecuadorian lawyer Juan Pablo Albán

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has expected to complete the appointment of the new Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression between July 14 and 16 of this year.

Anyone who is selected will replace the Colombian Catalina Botero, who has served since 2008, and shall exercise functions since October for the next three years, with an option to be re-elected.

Among the six finalists who already are shortlisted, the Ecuadorian lawyer Juan Pablo Albán is included, who has worked in HR defense cases at the Court and was a lawyer in the last weeks of journalist Diego Oquendo, who was charged before the Superintendent of Communication for an alleged `media lynching´.

The election of the Rapporteur takes place in a tense moment in relations between the Commission and the government of Rafael Correa.