LONDON (TrustLaw) - A Brazilian newspaper editor, famed for his anti-corruption campaigns, was shot dead on Sunday in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, the BBC said, citing police reports.
Paulo Rodrigues, editor of the Jornal da Praca newspaper and the website Mercosulnews.com, was shot five times by gunmen riding on a motorcycle as he drove through the city of Ponta Pora, near the Paraguay border, the BBC reported.
Rodrigues is the second Brazilian journalist to be killed in the last week.
Mario Randolpho Marques Lopes, a website editor from the city of Barra do Pirai, and his girlfriend were kidnapped from Lopes’ home on Thursday and both were later found shot dead, the BBC said.
According to the BBC, Lopes was an active campaigner against corruption through his website Vassouras na Net.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the killings.
"The murders of two journalists in such a short time cast a chill on the Brazilian press and make it imperative that authorities fully investigate the crimes, determine the motives, and prosecute those responsible," the BBC quoted CPJ's Americas coordinator Carlos Lauria as saying.
