Costa Rica's Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court ordered the Judicial Investigation Police – accused of spying – to allow the daily Diario Extra access to public information relevant to the case and to not to take any action against the newspaper. A court spokeswoman, Vanilly Cantillo, communicated the information in a Friday statement.
Several national and international press freedom groups have criticized alleged spying on Costa Rican journalists by the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ), including the Inter American Press Association and Reporters Without Borders. Claudio Paolillo, chairman of the press freedom group’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information condemned the apparent snooping and said it threw into question Costa Rica’s respect for press freedom.
Long celebrated as Latin America’s leader in freedom of expression, Costa Rica found itself mired in a wiretapping scandal Monday that shocked the small country. The newspaper Diario Extra accused the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) and the Prosecutor’s Office of tapping the telephones of its reporters, telephone operator and Iary Gómez, general director of the media company, in an alleged attempt to discover the names of confidential sources inside the judicial branch.
