Peru Ombudsman Calls for Faster Probes Into Journalist Killings

Peru’s human-rights ombudsman called on prosecutors and judges on 2 November 2026 to move more swiftly on crimes against journalists, urging the government and Congress to strengthen protection for reporters, particularly outside the capital.

The statement by the Defensoría del Pueblo, issued for the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, is a formal institutional appeal, not a new judicial ruling or a finding that a named official committed a crime. It calls for investigations capable of identifying those who carry out attacks as well as people who order or finance them.

The ombudsman specifically urged the Ministerio Público and the judiciary to exercise maximum diligence in investigations and proceedings involving offences against journalists. It also asked the executive branch and Congress to develop more comprehensive prevention and protection mechanisms, with particular attention to regional journalists.

The call comes against a documented backdrop of attacks on the Peruvian press. In its annual report published on 2 January 2026, the Asociación Nacional de Periodistas del Perú (ANP), a journalists’ professional association, recorded 458 attacks on journalists and media organisations during 2025, including four killings of journalists. That is the association’s monitoring count, not a figure established by a single court judgment or a statement that all incidents resulted in convictions.

The ANP identified the four journalists in its 2025 tally as Gastón Medina in Ica, Raúl Célis in Iquitos, Fernando Núñez in Pacasmayo and Mitzar Castillejos in Aguaytía. The ombudsman’s 2 November statement did not publish a new reconciled list of cases, identify suspects, provide case numbers or say that the four deaths had reached a particular judicial outcome. The current procedural position of each case requires separate checks with prosecutors and courts.

The association’s report also counted 127 incidents of threats or harassment, 114 physical or verbal assaults and 46 instances it classified as judicial intimidation in 2025. These categories are attributed to the ANP’s monitoring methodology; they should not be interpreted as an official criminal-case ledger. The figures are historical and do not describe the number of attacks in November 2026.

The ombudsman framed protection of journalism as a responsibility shared across institutions. It said attacks, threats and killings require an effective, coordinated state response and argued that delayed investigations can undermine accountability. Its statement did not announce a new law, a dedicated prosecution unit or a completed protective programme.

The central unanswered questions are operational: which investigations remain open, whether suspects have been charged, whether victims’ families have received official updates, and what measurable protection steps have been adopted for reporters working in regional areas. Those answers require case-level records and direct institutional responses, rather than extrapolation from annual totals.

For an international audience, the significance is the gap between an official demand for faster justice and the need for verifiable follow-through. Peru’s prosecutors, courts, executive branch and legislature now have a public call to act; evidence of any subsequent arrests, judgments, protective measures or failures will need to be assessed as separate developments.

This report is based on the ombudsman’s original Spanish-language statement dated 2 November 2026 and the ANP’s independently originated annual monitoring statement dated 2 January 2026. No criminal culpability is asserted beyond what those records establish.