Paris, May 25 (No.2001-73) - UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura today condemned the murder of Santiago Oleaga Elejabarrieta, the financial director of the Basque newspaper Diario Vasco, who was shot dead on May 24 at San Sebastian (Spain).

Mr Matsuura declared: “It is a Basque media organization that has been targeted in the person of Santiago Oleaga Elejabarrieta. Barely ten days ago, a Basque journalist was injured by a letter bomb. We condemn these crimes which seek to reduce to silence those media organizations in the Basque Country which oppose the violence of some separatists who were discredited in the recent elections. Terrorism, whatever its source, must not rule the press.”

Mr Matsuura further said: “We can but be outraged by the cowardly attack in San Sebastian. It is a despicable crime which shows total disregard both for the press, which it seeks to intimidate, and for democracy which has come out massively against terrorism.

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