Adrián Bruno Silva did not only report on the actions of former mayor Pascual Vílchez Cárcamo, and some of the municipality's officials, but he also presented the cases to the Public Prosecutor in Paita.
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 10 May 2011, journalist Adrián Bruno Silva, presenter of the news program “La Razón, la voz del pueblo”, broadcast by radio stations Súper Turbo in Colán and Radio Nor in Paita, told IPYS that he is the victim of a conspiracy led by a former mayor, who the journalist has investigated for alleged acts of corruption in the Piura region of northern Peru.
In 2010, Bruno reported on the actions of the then mayor of Pueblo Nuevo de Colán, Pascual Vílchez Cárcamo, and some of the municipality’s officials (who allegedly stole fuel and kept inexistent workers in some project payrolls), and also presented the cases to the Public Prosecutor in Paita.
Former mayor Vílchez responded by accusing Bruno of slander and defamation based, according to Bruno’s declaration to IPYS, on some general comments the journalist made about corrupt authorities without mentioning Vílchez’s name. “I have been sentenced in two instances in record time, but I have taken my case to Lima where it is being reviewed,” the presenter added.
The journalist has even been accused of planning to rape the daughter of a man called Severino Yesquén Abad, who has managed to get a prosecutor in Piura to admit the complaint based only on an anonymous text message, and summon the journalist to appear in court on 12 May. According to Bruno, he had also reported critically on the prosecutor.
