Amicus presented by the Regional Alliance for the Freedom of Expression and Information
On 25 February 2010, DPLF – as a member-organization of the Regional Alliance for Freedom of Expression and Information – filed an Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court petition) before the Supreme Court of Paraguay in the case Ombudsman vs. Municipality of San Lorenzo.
The Supreme Court of Paraguay is resolving a constitutional motion filed by the Ombudsman regarding a decision of the Court of Appeals in the 5th Civil and Commercial Chamber, which denied the right of Daniel Vargas Telles to know who the officials are who work for the Municipality of San Lorenzo, what their responsibilities are and what their salaries are. The case will be studied by the 9 Justices of the Supreme Court, thereby expanding the Constitutional Court, a situation reserved only for cases of institutional significance or of an important public interest.
The Regional Alliance presented the Amicus Curiae to express its views on the relevance and scope of the right of access to public information in the Americas and the importance of implementing this right in all state bodies, as a tool for the consolidation of a democratic society.
The Regional Alliance for Freedom of Expression and Information is a coalition that brings together 24 leading organizations in the field of freedom of expression and access to information in Latin America and the United States. The other member-organizations that joined DPLF in this Amicus Curiae included: Asociación Instituto Prensa y Libertad (IPLEX) from Costa Rica, Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP) from Colombia, Fundación Pro-Acceso from Chile, Fundamedios from Ecuador, Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) from Perú and the Fundación para las Américas. Individuals who joined the Amicus Curiae were: Juan Javier Zeballos, Executive Director of the Asociación Nacional de la Prensa(ANP) from Bolivia, Álvaro Herrero, Director of the Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC) from Argentina and Edison Lanza, Executive Director of the Centro de Archivos e Información (CAINFO) from Uruguay. Other organizations that joined the Alliance in presenting this Amicus Curiae included the Open Society Institute (OSI) based in New York, and local organizations such as Centro de Información y Recursos para el Desarrollo (CIRD), Centro de Estudios Judiciales (CEJ) and Semillas para la Democracia.
To read the Amicus (in Spanish only), please click here.