[News] ACLU Asks Judge To Review Lawsuit Challenging FBI Brutality in Puerto Rico

[Anti-Imperialist News]

ACLU Asks Judge To Review Lawsuit Challenging FBI Brutality (3/5/2008)

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CONTACT: <mailto:media at aclu.org>media at aclu.org; (212) 549-2666

Working Journalists Attacked By Federal Agents

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - The American Civil 
Liberties Union today will ask a federal appeals 
court to allow a case brought by journalists who 
were kicked, punched and pepper sprayed by FBI 
agents to move forward. The ACLU will ask the 
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to 
reverse an earlier decision by the district court 
that sided with the FBI agents and ignored 
important constitutional issues raised by the journalists.

“This case raises the question of how far 
government agents can go to impede the ability of 
journalists to gather the news,” said Catherine 
Crump, staff attorney with the ACLU First 
Amendment Working Group. “It’s time for the 
courts to exercise some much needed judicial 
oversight. These journalists deserve their day in court.”

In February 2006, several journalists attempting 
to report on the search of a San Juan apartment 
by FBI agents approached agents leaving the 
apartment to ask for their comments. The FBI 
agents responded by using physical force to 
intimidate the journalists to stop them from 
reporting on the apartment search.

On November 5, 2007, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on 
behalf of the journalists, asserting that the FBI 
agents had violated their First Amendment right 
to gather news and their Fourth Amendment right 
to be free from excessive force. The ACLU’s 
lawsuit asserts that the FBI agents prevented the 
journalists from gathering the news by, among 
other things, punching, shoving, and kicking 
them, spraying pepper spray in their faces, 
covering the lens of their camera, and pointing 
an automatic rifle at a one of the journalists.

“In keeping several journalists from doing their 
jobs, the FBI agents violated the First Amendment 
right to freedom of the press,” said William 
Ramirez, Executive Director and attorney with the 
ACLU of Puerto Rico. “The FBI should not be able 
to exert excessive physical force every time it 
wants to escape public scrutiny.”

At the time of the apartment search, the FBI was 
the subject of intense criticism as a result of 
an earlier raid in which a leader of the Puerto 
Rican independence movement was killed.

In addition to Crump and Ramirez, attorneys in 
the lawsuit are Aden Fine of the ACLU First 
Amendment Working Group, Josué González of the 
ACLU of Puerto Rico and Nora Vargas-Agosta. The 
Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press has 
filed an amicus brief in the case.

The ACLU’s brief and other related documents are 
available online here: 
<http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/censorship/34007res20071105.html>www.aclu.org/freespeech/censorship/34007res20071105.html 






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