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CPJ, press freedom organizations renew call for justice on 9th anniversary of journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas’ murder

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CPJ, press freedom organizations renew call for justice on 9th anniversary of journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas’ murder

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The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) joined family members, journalists and other press freedom organizations in Culiacán, the capital of the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa, to renew a call for justice in the murder of journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas.

Valdez, a correspondent for Mexico City newspaper La Jornada and co-founder of weekly investigative magazine Ríodoce, was killed May 15, 2017, in Culiacán. He was a 2011 International Press Freedom Award recipient. According to a federal investigation, his murder was ordered by Dámaso López Serrano, an alleged high-ranking operative of the Sinaloa Cartel criminal organization. While two of the triggermen were captured and received prison sentences, López Serrano surrendered to U.S. authorities several months after the killing.

López Serrano, also known as ‘El Mini Lic,’ is serving a five-year jail sentence for drug trafficking in the United States. He was previously reported to have cooperated as a witness in other criminal cases.

In Culiacán, Valdez’s widow Griselda Triana, Ríodoce co-founder Ismael Bojorquez, CPJ, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), ARTICLE 19 and Mexican press freedom organization Propuesta Cívica urged Mexican authorities to redouble their efforts to have Dámaso López Serrano extradited to Mexico so he can stand trial for his role in Valdez’s killing.

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Global Free Speech

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I have received all your support and blessings. ************ Because I don’t want everyone to worry too much, and I don’t want the focus to be lost, I’m sharing these feelings that have been weighing on my mind since the trial: Several years ago, I made a documentary with friends, trying to visualise the issue of torture by inviting Hong Kong friends to experience the various forms of torture suffered by protesters in China, so that it wouldn’t just remain a “tragedy” on paper. The “torture” depicted in the film was designed and researched by me. I thought I had some understanding of the subject, but only in the last couple of days have I realised I was a completely incompetent “torture officer” back then. I knew absolutely nothing about inflicting physical pain. It’s true that some things are impossible to comprehend no matter how much you read about them; you have to experience them firsthand. I say this because since the trial began, the Correctional Services Department [Hong Kong’s prison authority] has changed its method of transport. It’s no longer just simple handcuffs; now they use a full set of handcuffs, leg irons, waist chains, and ankle chains, and then lead the prisoners like dogs on a chain. From the written description alone, it seems like it’s just more inconvenient and somewhat humiliating, nothing like torture. But it’s only when you actually put on those shackles that you realise the devil is in the details. Ordinary handcuffs have buckles on both sides that connect with slipknots, allowing for limited movement between the hands. However, this set of specially made handcuffs has an outer layer of hard plastic covering the outer layer, locking the hands tightly together. This alone wouldn’t be so bad, but the “rings” on the handcuffs aren’t the round kind you usually see in adult stores (uh, I’ve been there, but only to buy props for filming!). Instead, there’s an additional hard material inside, shrinking into a flat, crescent shape that fits snugly at the thickest part of the wrist. So, when the wrist is inside, there’s absolutely no possibility of rotation; you can only constantly twist your arm to accommodate the angle designed by the handcuffs. That already restricts movement to two dimensions. Then comes the small buckle on the waist chain, which locks the handcuffs above the abdomen. If you dare to relax and let your hands hang down, the buckle will move up and lock into the thicker part of the wrist. Moreover, the locking angle is an extremely unnatural twisted pretzel, forcing one to constantly hunch their shoulders, hunch their back, bend their wrists, and twist their arms to try and avoid the handcuffs getting stuck in their wrist bones. 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It turns out that locking a person’s joints in certain relative positions can create a kind of “interlocking” effect between body parts. But to the untrained eye, it’s invisible—”It’s just putting your hands in front of your stomach, child’s play.” Sigh, just looking at that statement, I feel I have no reason to complain; but I never imagined the combined effect of locking all the joints would be so powerful. Thinking back to when I was researching for the documentary, I only focused on finding the most exaggerated physical movements, the torture methods most easily identifiable by the naked eye. I was indeed viewing the victims’ experiences through the eyes of a layman. When I “tortured” my friend, the handcuffs were loosely fastened. I was completely unaware that locking the joints was the key—it really was just a childish experiment. Sophisticated torture, much like mature totalitarianism, avoids the visible, “violent” acts of violence. 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Global Free Speech

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Global Free Speech

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