Officials blasted for coverage of pistol-packing child

A PANAMA lawyer lashed out on Wednesday, April 18 at local media and social networks that carried detailed information about a six-year-old who took a pistol and ammunition to the Republic of Venezuela school in his backpack on Tuesday.

Héctor Huertas has interposed a denunciation of the leaking of the information.

He told a journalists that the leak was a flagrant violation on the part of an official figure, leading to the publication through the media and social networks, the report of the event with the names of those involved (father, mother, and minor), in addition to the photo of the young boy.

“We are going to file a criminal complaint asking the Attorney General to order an ex officio investigation regarding the photo and report of the minor who carried a firearm. We believe that the one who gave the information was a judicial authority for the precise quality of the evidence,” said the lawyer.

Huertas added that in situations like these, every lawyer and police officer knows that names and images of a minor should not be mentioned since it would be a violation of the rights of the family and the minor.

“We all know that you should have a reservation and confidentiality in these cases so that it does not affect the child, however, the boy’s dignity has been trampled as it was exposed, on social networks and the news was echoed on air and in newspapers despite trying to blur or cut his face.”

The child is in the Office of the Child and Adolescent Prosecutor.

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