The court did not allow representatives of the embassies of the United States and Canada, as well as representatives of the Journalists Association of El Salvador, to enter the hearing.
The First Civil and Commercial Court of San Salvador will issue its verdict in the case against El Diario de Hoy and one of its journalists on March 4.
This court held an evidentiary hearing on Wednesday morning for a million dollar lawsuit against this media outlet filed by Mr. Yaakov Foster for alleged moral damages.
Also read: APES warns about the progress of a million-dollar lawsuit against El Diario de Hoy
Representatives of the United States and Canadian embassies arrived to attempt to gain access to the hearing; But they were denied access by the court, as were representatives of the Association of Journalists (APES), who had asked to remain as observers.
The court clarified that it did not grant access to the association and embassies because it does not have enough courtrooms to receive the public and for health reasons, noting that a positive case of Covid was recently reported in the court.
The hearing ended at around 1:00 pm.
In a press release, the Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES) condemned “Progress of the judicial process promoted by businessman Yaakov Foster against the written media El Diario de Hoy (EDH) and journalist Jorge Beltrán Luna, despite legal barriers protecting journalism.”
The union reminded that the case started in June 2023 and demanded a fine of $10 million against the media and the journalist. “An action that is a direct attack on the freedom of the press and a blatant attempt to silence journalists through abuse of the judicial system in the country.”
“This case is very relevant because of the devastating precedent that could be set for the journalist union in El Salvador if a judgment is rendered against the media outlet and the journalist. If this process is allowed to prosper, we may face a scenario where journalists will face lawsuits in the future for ‘moral damages’ for performing their informational duty in Salvadoran society ,” The union says.