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<font size=3>ACLU Asks Judge To Review Lawsuit Challenging FBI Brutality
(3/5/2008)<br><br>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br>
CONTACT: <a href="mailto:media@aclu.org">media@aclu.org</a>; (212)
549-2666<br><br>
<div align="center"><b>Working Journalists Attacked By Federal Agents</b>
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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.<br><br>
“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.”<br><br>
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. <br><br>
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.<br><br>
“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.” <br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
The ACLU’s brief and other related documents are available online here:
<a href="http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/censorship/34007res20071105.html">
www.aclu.org/freespeech/censorship/34007res20071105.html</a> <br><br>
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