A radio journalist known for denouncing drug traffickers and organized crime groups has been murdered in north-eastern Brazil, in the second attack on the country’s press in less than a week.
Three men armed with machine guns and pistols killed Djalma Santos da Conceição on Saturday night in the small town of Conceicao da Feira in the state of Bahia, police inspector Gustavo Coutinho told the Associated Press.
He said the gunmen barged into a party at a small bar and dragged Santos da Conceição away.
Officers found the journalist’s mutilated body the next morning, in Timbó, a rural community just outside Conceição da Feir, according to local media reports.
Santos da Conceição, 53, who presented a daily morning programme on a community radio station, was well-known for his plain-spoken commentary on local crime and corruption.
He was the second Brazilian journalist killed in less than one week.
“The brutal murders of two Brazilian journalists in less than a week represents a troubling escalation of anti-press violence in Brazil, already one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist,” said Sara Rafsky, Americas Program research associate of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Carlos Lauria, the committee’s senior Americas Program coordinator said last week that at least 14 Brazilian journalists have been killed since 2011 “in retaliation for their work”.
