| | |  Editorials | Issues | August 2009 
Mexico Commission Slams US Reporter's Death Report
 Associated Press
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August 07, 2009
| | Brad Will (NYC IndyMedia) | |
Mexico City — Mexico's National Human Rights Commission on Thursday criticized a report commissioned by federal prosecutors that supports the official assertion that U.S. journalist Bradley Will was fatally shot at close range during a protest three years ago.
The Commission contended the report's finding "is not based on expertise, it's based on opinion."
Two former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers and a Canadian forensics expert hired by the federal Attorney General's Office based their conclusions mainly on photographs, the commission said in a statement.
Released by federal prosecutors last week, the Canadians' report said Will was shot at close range. That agreed with an assertion by Mexican state and federal investigators, but disputed by an analysis of evidence done by forensic experts with Physicians for Human Rights.
Officials have said shots were fired by town officials and off-duty policemen confronting protesters during a political uprising that paralyzed Oaxaca for months in 2006, but they say none of those shooters was near Will. Will, a 36-year-old journalist from New York who worked for Indymedia.org, was hit by two bullets while filming the clash.
Will's family, which has raised concerns about the handling of the investigation by Mexican police, criticized the report earlier this week.
The Attorney General's Office report "is aimed at strengthening their weak and biased investigation," the family said in a statement read by their Mexican lawyer in Oaxaca on Tuesday.
Two supporters of the protest movement are being tried in his killing. |
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