5
RCTV. Said attack lasted approximately one hour, during which time no police
or security authorities intervened;
c)
the petitioners reported that another group of individuals who were a
block away from the head office of RCTV commandeered an ice cream
transport truck, directed it full speed against the main door of RCTV, crashing
against said door, damaging the security bars, the channel’s door, the walls
and the floor of the entrance. Three individuals also set fire to the motor of
said truck, causing additional damage to the main door of the head office of
RCTV;
d)
the petitioners stated that: another group of individuals tried to disable
and break two security cameras at the RCTV head office; a group of
individuals met at the back door of RCTV and set a truck that belonged to
another media on fire, and then went toward RCTV’s door, shooting and
yelling slogans in support of the President of the Republic and against the
media;
e)
the petitioners also stated that the RCTV workers who where outside
the channel during their lunch hour were unable to enter the channel’s head
offices, and some of them were threatened by the attackers and were forced
to seek refuge in nearby buildings. Roughly an hour after the beginning of
the attack, the National Guard showed up to persuade the attackers to
withdraw. However, the attackers threatened to come back, for which reason
the journalists and other RCTV employees evacuated the head office, and only
the staff needed to keep the station on the air remained inside the facilities;
and
f)
the set of facts “corroborates the extreme gravity and urgency of the
situation and the danger of irreparable damage against the lives, right to
humane treatment and freedom of expression of the journalists, management
and other employees working at the head office of RCTV channel or
associated with the journalistic operation” of said channel.
8.
The testimony of Laura Castellanos, José Ibarra Molina, Pedro Nikken, and
Noé Pernía, submitted as part of annex E to the Commission’s request for expansion
of provisional measures (supra Having Seen 6).
9.
The July 12, 2004 note by the Secretariat of the Court (hereinafter “the
Secretariat”) in which, under instructions by the President, it granted the State until
July 14, 2004 to send its comments on the request for expansion of provisional
measures submitted by the Commission in the instant case (supra Having Seen 6).
The State sent no observations on the matter.
10.
The July 27, 2004 Order of the President of the Court in which, in consultation
with all the judges of the Court, he decided:
1.
To reiterate to the State that it must adopt, forthwith, all necessary measures
to protect the lives and safety of Luisiana Ríos, Armando Amaya, Antonio José Monroy,
Laura Castellanos, Argenis Uribe, Carlos Colmenares, Noé Pernía and Pedro Nikken, as
well as the freedom of expression of the latter three.
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