Attack on journalist who reported on deficiencies of a public hospital

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Journalist İbrahim Akkuş, who reported on the deficiencies of a recently constructed public hospital in 19 Mayıs district of Samsun province, has been attacked inside the municipality building by the employees of the contractor company which undertook the construction.

After the construction of the hospital was completed and before it was opened, Akkuş visited the public hospital, which has a capacity of 40 beds and cost 15 million lira. Having detected the deficiencies and the defects of the contractor, the journalist then reported on his findings.

Going to the opening ceremony yesterday (June 21), Akkuş checked whether the related deficiencies and defects were fixed or not. Local newspapers wrote, "The 19 Mayıs Public Hospital started offering services with deficiencies and manufacturing defects today."

Following the opening ceremony, Akkuş went to the District Municipality of 19 Mayıs as he wanted to get information about the public works and settlement of the hospital. The employees of the company which constructed the hospital battered Akkuş inside the municipality.

İbrahim Akkuş used pepper spray to get rid of the assaulters. He went to a hospital afterwards and had a medical report issued documenting the battery he had been subjected to. The journalist has also filed a criminal complaint against the three people who attacked him. The suspects have been released from detention after their statements were taken.

Making a statement about the incident, Akkuş said:

"They called me and asked me where I was. Then, they came and attacked me. They hit me with natural gas pipes. I sprayed pepper gas to protect myself. All I did was to report the deficiencies I had detected to prevent public loss. They attacked me for this reason."

Akkuş was previously threatened by the company's employees.

CLICK - 'The fine for injuring a journalist is apparently 4,500 lira'

11th attack in 6 months

In the first six months of 2021, 11 journalists were attacked in Turkey. While 18 journalists were attacked in 2020, 139 journalists were attacked in the last five years. The journalists attacked in 2021 were:

Ahmet Atmaca: Demirören News Agency (DHA) reporter. After a person had been stabbed to death in Antep province, he went to the Forensic Medicine Institution to follow up the incident. He was attacked by the relatives of the deceased there. June 10, 2021 | Antep

Hüseyin Arif Çakmak: The Editor-in-Chief of İstiklal newspaper. He was targeted in an armed attack by a person who came to the newspaper's central office in Zeytinburnu. The assaulter fled the scene of the incident; he was later caught by the police. May 12, 2021 | İstanbul

Hazım Özsu: He was a radio presenter in a local station. He was attacked by Halil N. from his audience who had been following his program for a year. Özsu died at the scene of the incident. March 15 | Bursa

Levent Gültekin: He was attacked on his way to the "İki Yorum" (Two Comments) program that he presented. March 8, 2021 | İstanbul

Ferruh Varanoğlu: Columnist. He was shot in his foot in an armed attack carried out by an unidentified person. February 16, 2021 | Bursa

İzzet Tınmaz: The grant holder of İlk Havadis (First News) and news coordinator of Anadolu'nun Sesi (Voice of Anatolia). Two people stopped his car on his way to work and beat him with sticks. January 9, 2021 | Aksaray

Kıymet Sarıyıldız and Murat Uçkaç: Hedef (Target) newspaper and İhlas News Agency (İHA) reporters. They were battered by the relatives of a suspect arrested for drug dealing while he was taken from the courthouse. January 13, 2021 | Aydın

Afşin Hatipoğlu: KRT TV program presenter. He was attacked by a group of unidentified persons wearing masks in front of his house. | January 14, 2021

Orhan Uğuroğlu: Ankara representative of Yeniçağ newspaper. While he was about to get in his car in the morning, four people attacked him with sticks. He was wounded in his arm. January 15, 2021 | Ankara (HA/SD)