On 19 September, in Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague, the panel of judges of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) delivered its judgment following a process of public hearings inaugurated in November 2021 at the request of Safer World for Truth Coalition – composed by Free Press Unlimited, Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, and supported by the Syrian Centre for Press and Freedom of Expression and the Centre for Justice and Accountability – and articulated in three different thematic hearings each dedicated one of the exemplary cases for the murder of journalists: from Mexico, Miguel Angel López Velasco, from Sri Lanka, Lasantha Wickrematunge, and from Syria, Nabil Walid Al-Sharbaji.
Based on the extensive and rigorous documentation and the witness statements publicly submitted, the PPT panel of judges unanimously pronounced a condemnatory judgment against the States of Mexico, Sri Lanka, and Syria for being guilty, through their actions and omissions (lack of due investigation, lack of reparation measures for the victims, complete impunity), of all the human rights violations denounced in the indictment. The seriousness of the responsibility is further underlined as the three states are signatories to the multilateral treaty obliging them to respect the fundamental civil and political rights of all citizens, which include the right to life, freedom of religion, speech, assembly, electoral rights, and the right to due process.
