Brad Will’s parents announce indy investigation into journo’s death

Kathy and Hardy Will, parents of the Indymedia journalist Brad Will who was shot dead in Oaxaca more than a year ago, have branded the Mexican investigation into the journalist’s death “frustrating and disappointing” for its failure to find those responsible.

Will was shot dead by plain-clothed armed men on October 27th 2006 whilst covering the social disturbances in Oaxaca surrounding a teacher’s strike. The killing brought the death-toll of journalists in Mexico in 2006 to nine – the county is experiencing increasingly high levels of violence against journalists. It was purported to be the second most dangerous place to work in the world as a journalist after Iraq in 2006.

An investigation at the end of last year by the Attorney General on the case suggested that Will had been shot at close range. But Kathy and Hardy Will dismissed those findings as “illogical and irrational” and have announced that the American non-governmental organisation Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) will conduct an independent investigation.

According to La Jornada, the Wills announced at a press conference last week that four PHR experts will visit Oaxaca for two weeks to carry out ballistics, forensic and pathology investigations, in addition to analysing photos and videotapes of the confrontation that led to Will’s death.

Once they have completed their investigation they will report on their findings to the PGR – the Attorney General’s Office Procuraduría General de la República, who carried out the previous investigation. The PGR also said that it is going to review the case.

‘We are back to where we started a year and half ago,’ said Kathy Will.