A man in Mexico has been given a 50-year prison sentence for ordering the killing of a prominent journalist.
Miroslava Breach, who covered drugs violence and corruption in the country, was one of 11 journalists murdered in 2017 in Mexico, BBC reports.
Prosecutors said the lengthy prison term for Juan Carlos Moreno set a precedent in cases involving crimes against free expression. Some 90% of attacks on journalists in the country reportedly go unsolved.
Al Jazeera reports that the sentence of Juan Carlos Moreno, also known as “El Larry,” was announced by the state prosecutor’s office on Saturday.
He had been convicted of being the “intellectual author” of Breach’s murder, one of the few such media killings to be solved in the country.
Mexico is regularly rated by journalism watchdog Reporters Without Borders as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.
Breach, who covered the country’s drug war, was one of 11 journalists murdered in 2017. More than 100 have been killed since 2000, but 90 percent of the murders remain unresolved.
Prosecutors said in a statement that the 50-year sentence set a precedent in cases involving crimes against free expression, adding it was the longest sentence to date for such crimes.
BBC / Al Jazeera
