Twitterer Bailed Out by Online Community in Sensational Murder Case

Monday, May 18, 2009
Rodrigo Rosenberg calling out his murderer before his murder

Police in Guatemala have freed a Twitter user accused of inciting financial panic. Jean Anleu Fernández, 37, who was arrested on May 14 for posting a 96-character tweet, was released on Q50,000 (roughly $6,500) bail. Most of the money was collected by hundreds of donations through a PayPal account set up along with an online petition demanding his freedom. Although he is now out on bail, he remains under house arrest.

 
Anleu, who goes by the user name “Jeanfer,” was arrested in connection with the case of a lawyer, Rodrigo Rosenberg, who was murdered on May 10 after recording a video in which he suggested that the president of Guatemala, Álvaro Colom, would be responsible for his murder. In his tweet, Anleu urged people who had money deposited in Banrural, a bank at the center of the murder investigation, to remove their funds, and thus break the control that corrupt individuals have over the partially state-owned financial institution.
 
In one day, police raided Anleu’s house, arrested him, sent him before a judge, and sentenced him. News about his arrest and its relation to the Rosenberg case spread online in what is referred to as the “Streisand Effect,” in which an attempt to censor a piece of information backfires, and ultimately causes the information to be more widely publicized. One Twitterer wrote, “The death of attorney Rosenberg has returned [Guatemala] to life.” Others protested that in Guatemala a citizen is more likely to be arrested for a comment than for committing a murder. Street vendors in Guatemala City are selling copies of Rosenberg’s tape, in which he accuses President Colom, among other government officials, of his forthcoming death. The video has also been made widely available online through YouTube.
-Ednar Segura
 
Anleu Paga Fianza y Recupera Libertad (by Olga Lopez Ovando, Prensa Libre)

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