Rafael Correa defends the sanctioning of ‘media lynching’

Rafael Correa

President Rafael Correa was in favor of punishing the so-called ‘media lynching’ when “systematically the objective is to impose a truth and destroy a person,” he said yesterday during a discussion with the media in Guayaquil.

Last week, Assembly member of the ruling party Maria Augusta Calle, proposed the criminalization of “media lynching” in the Communications Act, but was disarded by the legislature.

Correa said it should be penalized, but did not mention which legal body should be included, and criticized the media for the treatment given to the court cases against Pachakutik Assembly member Clever Jimenez, and Central Bank president, Pedro Delgado.

He said that Jimenez’s complaint was “malicious and reckless” and he expects that they does not give way to the appeal presented by the defense, Correa also maintained that he is the first to want Delgado to return to the country to “be held accountable for his actions”.

The president again rejected the annual report of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the IACHR which argued that the Ecuadorian press is under the attack of the Government. He said the country will continue refuting the “lies” and repeated the warning: “If at some point we have to withdraw from this system totally prostituted by the hegemonic countries, we will.”