 |
|
|
 Editorials | Issues | March 2007 
Relatives Suspect State in Death of Journalist in Mexico
 Morgan Lee - Associated Press
| | Hardy and Kathy Will, parents of slain New York journalist-activist Bradley Roland Will, accompanied by their son Craig, participate in a march to the site where their son was killed during last year's violent protests in Oaxaca, Mexico, Wednesday, March 21, 2007. Bradley Roland Will, 36, was fatally shot while filming a protest in October, 2006. For a month before his death, Will recorded video and wrote dispatches from Oaxaca for indymedia.org, a Web site run by a network of small, nonprofit media centers. (AP/Luis Alberto Cruz) |
The brother of a journalist slain in Oaxaca said Friday that he believes state officials were likely involved in the death and asked federal investigators here to take over the case.
In a news conference wrapping up the family's weeklong visit to Mexico City and Oaxaca, where Bradley Roland Will was killed on Oct. 27, Craig Will said federal officials have agreed to look over the evidence after the family raised concerns about the state prosecutors' handling of the investigation.
But the federal Attorney General's Office hasn't yet officially taken over the inquiry.
Craig Will, 38, said new witnesses gave testimony to federal officials, recounting how Will was shot to death while filming amid violent protests against the state government in Oaxaca, 220 miles southeast of Mexico City.
For a month before his death, the 36-year-old journalist recorded video and wrote dispatches about the protests for indymedia.org, a Web site run by a network of small, nonprofit media centers.
Will's parents, Kathy and Howard Will, were in Oaxaca on Friday to attend a re-creation of the crime scene by federal investigators. They have blamed police henchmen for their son's death.
Members of the Will family met on Tuesday with U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza.
Mexico investigators last year arrested two town officials in the killing but later released them after state Attorney General Lizbeth Cana suggested Will may have been shot by a protester.
Craig Will criticized the decision to release the suspects. State investigators have suggested Bradley Will's second wound came sometime after he was loaded into a Volkswagen with a doctor and five anti-government protesters. Craig Will said news photos widely published in Mexico show his brother with two bullet wounds shortly after falling to the ground, and ballistic evidence does not support the government theory.
Cana has said she will hand over all case evidence and statements to federal officials, and it is up to them to decide on the matter.
At least eight others were killed last year during violent protests in Oaxaca, a once-tranquil tourist city whose downtown was seized by protesters demanding the resignation of Gov. Ulises Ruiz because of alleged electoral fraud.
Thousands of federal police pushed the protesters out of the city in October and November.
On the Net: http://www.indymedia.org - http://www.bradwill.org |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us