DAGOS

[Matthew X]

Sorry- DIGOS.Antiterrorist police search homes of two journalists
Reporters Without Borders today protested against the searches carried out 
yesterday by DIGOS antiterrorist police at the homes of two journalists, 
Fiorenza Sarzanini of the Corriere della Sera and Mario Menghetti of Il 
Messaggero. The searches came after both of these national dailies ran 
articles about the violence at the G8 summit in Genoa in the summer of 2001 
that were apparently based on a leaked police report.
"The frequency with which the authorities have violated the confidentiality 
of journalist sources in the past few months is disturbing", Reporters 
Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard said in a letter to Justice 
Minister XXXX. "These methods have been used at least five times against 
investigative journalists in 2002", Ménard said.
"We must remind you that the principle of the protection of journalistic 
sources is one of the essential conditions of press freedom, and democratic 
states respect this right", the letter continued. "We must also remind you 
that the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights monitor 
respect for this principle by member states and we ask you to ensure that 
the Italian judiciary does not violate it."
The 19 August searches of the homes of Sarzanini and Menghetti by the Rome 
antiterrorist squad were carried out on the orders of the Genoa 
prosecutor's office. In their articles of 5 August, the two journalists are 
suspected of having cited a secret carabinieri report which focussed above 
on Carlo Giuliani, a young demonstrator who was killed by a member of the 
carabinieri. The antiterrorist squad was looking for documents that could 
help identify the source of this leak.
On 3 May, Reporters Without Borders protested against the search carried 
out at the home of La Stampa reporter Guido Ruotolo who was suspected of 
having published information that violated the secrecy of a judicial 
investigation into an Islamic network. At the start of March, the homes of 
two other journalists, Claudia Fusani of La Repubblica and Fiorenza 
Sarzanini of the Corriere della Sera, were searched for the same reason.
Reporters sans frontières défend les journalistes emprisonnés et la liberté 
de la presse dans le monde, c'est-à-dire le droit d'informer et d'être 
informé, conformément à l'article 19 de la Déclaration universelle des 
droits de l'homme. Reporters sans frontières compte neuf sections 
nationales (Allemagne, Autriche, Belgique, Espagne, France, 
Grande-Bretagne, Italie, Suède et Suisse), des représentations à Abidjan, 
Bangkok, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Montréal, Moscou, Nairobi, New York, Tokyo 
et Washington, et plus de cent correspondants dans le monde.
http://www.rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=3458