April 2, 2010 12:52PM # Journalists Condemn Attack on the Free Press in Ecuador By [Gabriela Calderon de Burgos](https://www.cato.org/people/gabriela-calderon-de-burgos) --- SHARE On Monday [I wrote](https://www.cato.org/2010/03/29/a-columnist-sentenced-to-three-years-in-prison-in-ecuador/) about an Ecuadorian court’s sentencing of Emilio Palacio, editor of the opinion section of *El Universo*, to three years in jail. Since then, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) [has expressed](http://www.cidh.org/relatoria/showarticle.asp?artID=792%2526lID=) “profound concern” about the prison sentence for Palacio, and [the Inter-American Press Association](http://www.elcomercio.com/noticiaEC.asp?id_noticia=343302%2526id_seccion=3) (IAPA) and [Reporters Without Borders](http://www.rsf.org/Controversial-jail-sentence-amid.html) (RSF) have strongly condemned it. Op-ed writers from leading national newspapers have signed a statement condemning the court’s decision. [This statement](https://www.cato.org/files/comunicado-ingles.pdf) was published in *El Comercio*, *El Universo*, *Diario HOY* and *La Hora*. So far 47 columnists have signed on. See an [updated list here](http://www.elcomercio.com/nv_images/fotos/2010/04/pdf/ec01_comunicadoeditorialistas.pdf) of those of us who express our solidarity with the accused journalist. ##### Related Tags [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).