On Aug. 12, Peruvian journalist Pompillo Peña Ríos accused the mayor of Balsapuerto and his bodyguards of assaulting him in the province of Alto Amazonas, according to the Press and Society Institute.
Peña Ríos, who works for Canal 15 of the national television network La Ribereña, said that when he confronted the mayor about overdue payments for official messages broadcast by the station, Mayor Alfredo Torres Rucoba's bodyguards pushed him to the ground and the mayor kicked him.
"Afterwards, the mayor started to insult me, he told me he wasn't going to pay because we would not stop criticizing his administration," Peña Ríos told the newspaper Al Día de Perú.
The journalist was treated for injuries to his ribs and right hand.
Peña brought charges against the mayor for assault and attempted homicide. The journalist suggested that an investigation into the mayor's involvement in the killing of 12 Shawi indigenous people and healers since March 2011 motivated the attack, reported the news program Enlace Nacional.
See the video below (in Spanish) for more information about the journalist's attack.
