Mexico Federal District Attorney General Rodolfo Rios Garza announced Wednesday that police have arrested a man suspected of murdering photojournalist Rueben Espinosa and four women last week [JURIST report]. The suspect, whose identity was not released, was found [Yukatan Times report] by linking a fingerprint discovered at the apartment where the killings took place. Espinosa had fled to Mexico City from his home state of Veracruz because of previous threats stemming from his work. The UN Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] expressed a most firm condemnation [El Universal report] of the murder, and called it a “grave act against freedom of expression”.

Violence against journalists has been an issue that has plagued Mexico for years. In April 2012, the Mexican Senate unanimously passed [JURIST report] legislation that would amend Article 73 of the Constitution to make attacks against journalists a federal crime. While the amendment was lauded as a great progress, many were still skeptical [JURIST op-ed] that it would be ratified at all, and if it was, that it would be upheld and the local level where it is most important. Just a few months later, UNESCO expressed concern [JURIST report] over three Mexican journalists found murdered in Veracruz. One month later, UN experts and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) urged [JURIST report] an end to the threats and killings of human rights advocates and journalists in Mexico.