User:SMLabno/Luciano Leitão Pedrosa

Luciano Leitão Pedrosa (1965? - 9 April 2011) was a well respected and admired television presenter and radio journalist in Brazil known for his exceptional and critical coverage of criminals and municipal authorities. Pedrosa received many threats due to his dangerous assignments but he never stopped reporting. Pedrosa was murdered in Brazil at the young age of 46 over a story he was reporting on. There are also 21 other brazilian journalists killed on the job and 8 brazilian journalists killed but the motives are unconfirmed.

Career
Luciano Leitão Pedrosa, 46, hosted the public affairs program "Ação e Cidadania," which means "Action and Citizenship," for TV Vitória, which ran for seven years, and he reported for the FM radio station Metropolitana. According to press reports, Pedrosa was known for his critical coverage of criminals and municipal authorities. The Pernambuco Daily Jornal do Commercio reported that the journalist had received threats but had not complained to authorities. The paper did not specify the nature of the threats.

Death
Luciano Leitão Pedrosa was killed on 9 April 2011 after being shot dead while eating at a restaurant in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco. An assailant fired multiple shots after entering the restaurant at about 9 p.m. The Recife-based daily Diario de Pernambuco, reported Pedrosa was shot once in the head and he was pronounced dead at the scene. An unidentified gunman fled on a motorcycle driven by another individual who had been waiting outside.

Police initially told reporters that the gunman had declared it was a robbery. By February 2012, police officials announced they had arrested three suspects and had concluded that the killing was tied to Pedrosa's journalism, according to news reports. Investigators said brothers Josemir and Josemar Soares da Silva had organized the murder in reprisal for Pedrosa's reports on their alleged drug trafficking. Police identified Dailton Gomes Brasil as the alleged gunman. A fourth alleged conspirator was himself murdered later in 2011. Police said the brothers had threatened Pedrosa, including once on the journalist's live television program.

Impact
Police told reporters that the gunman had declared it was a robbery, but work-related motives had not been ruled out given the critical nature of Pedrosa's reporting. Pedrosa was a harsh critic of the local municipal government, Diario de Pernambuco reported.

Reactions
Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO, said, "Journalists must be free to work without fear. The public debate to which they contribute lies at the heart of democratic governance. The murder of Luciano Leitão Pedrosa is a direct attack against this debate, and against the basic human right of freedom of expression."