Journalist is assaulted while photographing a marble factory

Free-lancer journalist Fabrício Ribeiro Pimenta was assaulted last July 30th while he was taking pictures of the inspection of a marble factory in the city of Serra, Espírito Santo state. The owner of the factory, Alessandro Carlos Silva Laranja, has stabbed him on the head with a tool, making an wound that needed seven stitches. Alessandro has also destroyed the journalist´s camera.

The marble factory was installed at the Praia da Baleia neighborhood, where Fabrício lives, by the end of 2008. Fabrício, that is also a member of a local neighbors association, says he spoke to Alessandro before the installation, trying to avoid it. The journalist has explained him that the marble factory would be under irregular situations, since it would be settled at a residential area, where it would produce a lot of noise and toxic powder coming from the rocks.

In 2009, Fabrício has called the Environment Inspection and the silence service from Serra´s city hall several times. The marble factory was inspected and considered irregular, but it kept on working normally. On the morning of July 30th, while Fabrício was registering the presence of an environment inspection from the outside of the marble factory, the assaulting has happened. The case was registered at the Police District for Crimes against Life, from Serra (DCCV, Laranjeiras-Serra).

According to Fabrício, the pictures would be part of a material he was joining to publish. “I had already spoken with a colleague from Vitória (Espirito Santo´s capital) and he would publish the case on the weekly newspaper Tempo Novo”, he says.

Taking friends´ advices, Fabrício left Espírito Santo after he was assaulted. He says he does not feel safe to keep on working in his state. “It is a high risky situation, that is what I feel”, he says.

Fabrício Pimenta has worked as a journalist in several newspapers such as Tempo Novo and A Tribuna. Since 2000, he covers crimes against environment, specially in Serra, the most industrialized city in ES. According to him, he has been continuously threatened.

The Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism, Abraji, has repudiated the aggression against the journalist.