A Peruvian court has sentenced a former television news program host to two years in prison on criminal defamation charges related to claims made by a politician he interviewed.

The court sentenced Hans Francisco Andrade Chávez, 38, the former host of a news program for a local channel of Peruvian América TV, on 6 July and ordered him to pay a fine of approximately $1,500.

The sentence came just over a month after Peru’s Congress passed a bill that would substitute prison time for defamation and libel offenses with fines and community service. The bill was passed 21 June, but will not become law until the president signs it.

The charge stemmed from Andrade Chávez’s 3 March interview with Carla Beatriz Rodríguez, coordinator of the political party Alliance for Progress. She claimed she received death threats from Juan José Vásquez Romero, assistant manager of public services in the municipality of Chepén.

Andrade Chávez’s program was cancelled on 6 March, a move local press freedom organisations attributed to alleged political pressure. Vásquez Romero then accused the reporter of damaging his honour and image, although Rodriguez’s claim had also been published in other media outlets. Before the end of March, Andrade Chávez was notified that he would face trial.

Following his conviction, the journalist told the International Press Institute (IPI): “I am free now because my lawyers and I appealed the decision the same day it was pronounced. The tribunal already received the rebuttal and we are waiting. The problem is I have been told that one of the chambers allegedly supports the ruling party, so it would not be impartial in my case.”

Andrade Chávez said that another journalist also faces trial on charges of defaming Vásquez Romero. He said his case was a consequence of his critical reporting, and he criticized the fact that he, and not the politician who made the claim about the alleged death threats, is being investigated.

The jury was reportedly only shown an edited video of the program, in which the journalist appears to be making the assertion.

IPI Director Alison Bethel McKenzie said: “It is unacceptable that the authorities use criminal defamation charges to muzzle independent reporting. We call on the authorities to reverse this conviction and to completely decriminalise defamation. The case is particularly concerning in light of the fact that the reporter appears to have simply been reporting on allegations made by another politician.”

The Inter American Human Rights Commission on Tuesday expressed concern about criminal defamation charges in Peru levelled at people who have expressed critical opinions about civil servants.

“The situation is even worse when the victim is a journalist who, in covering public interest information, interviews the person who initially expressed the critical opinion”, the commission said.

In addition to imprisonment and fines, the court also sentenced Andrade Chávez to 120 days of social work and it ordered him to broadcast – using his own resources – a public apology on América TV, a high-viewer-share broadcaster. Andrade Chávez’s lawyers said the journalist will appeal against the decision.

Andrade Chávez told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that he had tried to contact Vásquez Romero before the report was aired, but was not able to reach him.

The Inter American Press Association, meanwhile, suggested that the ruling could be a consequence of Andrade’s critical reporting.

In other news, the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas reported that journalist Jaime Quispe Olano, director of the Jornada de Ayacucho newspaper, received an anonymous phone call on 20 July, in which a voice warned: “You are going to die. You are going to die.”

According to the Peruvian Press and Society Institute (IPYS), Quispe said he assumed the threat resulted from a story published in his newspaper alleging that the brother of Omar Quesada, the former president of the regional government of Ayacucho in central Peru, was involved in acts related to extortion.

The National Journalists Association of Peru said that critical press workers in Ayacucho are frequently targeted for intimidation through judicial processes and threats. The guild indicated that it has registered 200 aggressive acts against journalists in Peru so far this year.

IPYS also expressed concern about freedom of expression in Peru after El Comercio newspaper reported on 24 July that Uri Ben Schmuel, editor of La Razón newspaper, is facing a lawsuit filed by the national elections council, the Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE), on the basis that he did not include the complete technical information associated with a survey that he published in his paper.

The council was the subject of controversy when it amended the requirements for the dissemination of survey results last December with an eye toward presidential elections in April 2011. Ben Schmuel reportedly said he believes the JNE should withdraw the lawsuit given that a resolution the body issued on 15 July admitting that the amendment to the law was excessive.