The Committee to Protect Journalists joined more than 300 journalists from 25 countries—representing 62 international press freedom organizations—in a solidarity statement supporting IDL-Reporteros founder and director Gustavo Gorriti after Lima, Peru Mayor Rafael López Aliaga suggested the journalist should be killed at a September 9 press conference inaugurating the first 5 kilometers of the city’s Via Expresa Sur construction project.

Gorriti, Peru’s most prominent investigative reporter, has previously been the target of a bribery probe and public harassment in connection with IDL-Reporteros’ critical reporting on judicial corruption.

The statement warns that such public attacks against journalists “intend to erode confidence in journalism and the democratic system” and calls on Peruvian judicial authorities to defend press freedom and the right for journalists to safely do their jobs without fear of reprisal.

Read the full statement in Spanish here.