The resolution was issued following a claim for protection filed by the company that owns El Faro for a series of requirements unrelated to the tax interest charged by the Treasury Department.
The Ministry of Finance should temporarily refrain from requesting key documentation from Trípode, Sociedad Anónima de Capital Variable (Trípode, SA de CV), owner of the digital newspaper El Faro, while an amparo process is eventually resolved at the request of the signature and determines whether Rather, this endangers freedom of expression and the press and the rights of journalists, ordered the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court.
In a resolution this Friday, the highest court ordered that “the requirement of the minutes books of the company’s board of directors, the reports or final reports provided to the international employees and the details of subscribers who contribute regularly
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The decision of the Chamber is in response to an amparo lawsuit brought by El Faro against the General Directorate, the General Directorate and the Department of Criminal Investigation and Taxation, authorities of the General Directorate of Internal Taxation (DG II) of the Ministry van Financiën, who initiated proceedings in which they investigated the tax behavior of their represented company with regard to the assessment years 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
According to Trípode’s lawyers, there is a risk that the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of information and information self-determination of journalists who practice – or have carried out – their work in the media will be violated in the media. , contributing individuals and the demanding society.
“The disclosure of the questioned information would enable the executive to know aspects of the medium’s editorial and line of research, as well as journalistic secrets related to the methodology, sources and contributors of the medium El Faro,” the media said. allegations of the lawyers.
In addition, it is argued that the private information of the subscribers of the aforementioned medium is not fiscally relevant and must be protected because it concerns personal data of a sensitive nature.
The Court clarifies that this resolution “does not in any way impede the tax administration’s powers of inspection”, since the purpose of this process is neither to audit the inspection procedures themselves nor to – only – if the questioned documentation and information are fiscally relevant, but rather to determine whether – as a result of the ultimate delivery of what is needed – the fundamental rights to freedom of expression, freedom of information and informational self-determination would be jeopardized.
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In early February, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued. The IACHR has enacted legal protections in favor of the digital newspaper El Faro and its journalists against threats, bullying, intimidation, as well as criminalization and stigmatization by the Nayib Bukele government.
The IACHR, one of the main organs of the Organization of American States (OAS) for the promotion and defense of human rights, has imposed precautions on the State of El Salvador given the “seriousness, urgency and irreparability” of the events, ranging from threats, discrimination, discrediting through state media and other hostilities.
In light of this, it demands that the government of Nayib Bukele take the necessary measures to protect the lives and integrity of 34 people who make up El Faro, and to “exercise their journalistic activities in exercise of their right to liberty. of expression without being subjected to intimidation, threats and harassment ”.