The incident occurred while Ana María Yesquén was taking photographs of two policemen attacking a local reporter.
(IPYS/IFEX) – Ana María Yesquén, a correspondent for Radio Programas del Perú, said that she was assaulted by two National Police officers on 3 October 2010. The incident occurred in the district of Túcume, Lambayeque region, northern Peru, while the reporter was photographing the same two policemen attacking a local reporter whose name is not known.
According to Yesquén, she went to the region to cover a story on possible electoral fraud in two schools where, it had been reported, electoral ballot boxes had been burnt. After the allegation was publicised, local residents tried to go into other schools leading to a confrontation with a police team that had been sent to the region.
A local reporter, who was filming the events, was attacked by two of the policemen who damaged some of his equipment. According to Yesquén, when the police officers realized they were being photographed, they chased and assaulted her.
She suffered several injuries, some more serious than others, as a consequence of this attack, the worst of which is a fissure in the tenth vertebra.
IPYS consulted Fernando Vera, Túcume’s police captain, who claimed to know nothing about the attack against the journalist. However, the chief of the regional police, Víctor Oridinola Ruiz, acknowledged that he had received a phone call about the assault and promised to investigate the incident.
