Lawyers to bring charges in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights over “Gag Law”

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November 9th, 2012 (InsideCostaRica.com) Costa Rica’s Information Crime Law, also known as the “Gag Law” (Ley Mordaza, in Spanish), which penalizes journalists with prison sentences, will likely cost the President, Laura Chinchilla, a trip to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to explain her government’s actions, and possibly face charges.

Hermes Gonzalez Alvarez, president of the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights Foundation, stated that the “Gag Law” not only puts at risk journalists and communication media in general, but also human rights organizations, who report corruption and abuse in the country’s prisons, amongst others.

This morning, a team of lawyers will begin to work on a written document declaring the law to be unconstitutional, in the hopes of having the courts strike it down.

But the lawyers are not stopping there – the legal team plans to present the case to the magistrates of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights by next week.

Gonzalez said that due to the gravity of the matter, they will bring charges against Costa Rica and the President, Laura Chinchilla, before the international court, as the president of the Costa Rican Supreme Court of Justice, Zarella Villanueva, has remained silent in regards to the case.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in San Jose, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, it makes up the human rights protection system of the Organization of American States, which serves to uphold and promote basic rights and freedoms in the Americas.