The International Press Institute (IPI) said today that it was pleased Dominican Republic officials have brought charges against police who allegedly plotted to murder a journalist, and called for further action to address the disturbing number of attacks on journalists this year.

Authorities on Monday announced charges against five officers accused of plotting to murder Santiago journalist and lawyer Jordi Veras early last year, but the announcement followed a ninth report of violence against journalists in the Dominican Republic in January alone.

That report came Jan. 28, when Francisco Frías Morel – the director of radio station Cabrera FM and author of the blog Prensa Libre Nagua – was hit in his stomach and left eye by pellets police fired while confronting a funeral procession Frías was covering.

Frías and approximately 14 colleagues were in front of the procession for a youth shot to death by police two days earlier in the northeastern city of Nagua when a dozen police officers opened fire with pellets and tear gas canisters.

The journalist said he and his colleagues were wearing press passes and had clearly labeled equipment, including cameras and video cameras. He also stated that he believed he was targeted for his critical coverage of a police report indicating that the dead youth had engaged in a shootout with police.

Frías had reportedly been threatened before by a police captain while the journalist was covering a conflict over land.

However, a local police commander in Nagua denied that police fired on the journalists. He said that officers were trying to disperse an “unruly” crowd, and that they used only rubber bullets.

According to reports, eight other incidents of violence against journalists previously occurred in the Dominican Republic in January, with the majority having been perpetrated by authorities.

Veras was struck by two bullets last June during an early morning assassination attempt in the parking lot of the studio where he hosted a daily television program.

IPI Acting Director Alison Bethel McKenzie called on Dominican officials to thoroughly investigate the shooting of Frías and the other attacks on journalists, but she said she was “delighted that authorities have made arrests in a relatively quick manner in the case of the attempted murder of Jordi Veras.”

She added: “We hope this is a clear sign that government officials are beginning to take attacks on and plots against Dominican journalists seriously. IPI wants to send a clear message to drug traffickers and others who would attempt to silence journalists that it is not acceptable under any circumstances.”