Journalist Detained in Connection with Murder Case

A newspaper journalist was arrested thisweek in connection with the murder case ofjournalist Parmenio Medina, AttorneyGeneral Francisco Dall’Anese announcedon Wednesday.Dall’Anese said prosecutors suspect thejournalist provided a prisoner with access toa cellular phone, which the prisoner used tocoerce and intimidate witnesses in connectionwith the case, which has yet to go totrial.Dall’Anese did not disclose the name ofeither suspect, but the daily newspapersidentified the journalist as Adrián Marreroof Diario Extra, and the prisoner as LuisAlberto Aguirre, known as “El Indio,” whoconfessed to killing Medina in March (TT,April 16) and is being held in La Reformain Alajuela.THE phone was registered in the journalist’sname with the Costa RicanElectricity Institute (ICE), officials said.Dall’Anese declined to discuss evidenceother than the cell phone allegedly linkingthe journalist to the witness intimidation.He said the charges against the journalistpertain to how the phone ended up in theprisoner’s hands and what was done with it.He clarified that whether the journalistknew precisely what the phone was to beused for is irrelevant.The journalist was released on the conditionthat he present himself before a judgeevery 22 days and not contact witnessesinvolved in the case, according to theJudicial Branch.Catholic priest Minor Calvo and sportsbusinessman Omar Chaves, the suspectedintellectual authors of radio journalistMedina’s July 2001 assassination, are currentlyserving preventive detention sentences(TT, June 4).