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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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