(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release: Paris, 30 October 2001 Togo Frees Jailed Journalist The World Association of Newspapers today welcomed the release of prominent Togolese journalist Lucien Messan, whose case drew international attention to the government’s campaign to silence the independent press. Mr. Messan, 55, the editorial director of Le Combat […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release:
Paris, 30 October 2001
Togo Frees Jailed Journalist
The World Association of Newspapers today welcomed the release of prominent Togolese journalist Lucien Messan, whose case drew international attention to the government’s campaign to silence the independent press.
Mr. Messan, 55, the editorial director of Le Combat du Peuple, was released after a presidential pardon on Sunday, his lawyer, Florent Jonas Sokpoh, told the Paris-based WAN. He had been sentenced in June to 18 months in prison with six months suspended for “falsehood and the use of falsehood.”
“We are delighted that the Togolese government has allowed Mr. Messan to leave prison, though he never should have been jailed,” said the Director General of WAN, Timothy Balding.
A WAN delegation had met in July with Togolese officials, including Prime Minister Agbeyome Kodjo, to urge them to release Mr. Messan, the most senior figure in the Togolese independent press. The delegation also met with Mr. Messan in prison.
While welcoming the release, WAN also said Mr. Messan’s freedom “does not solve the underlying problem of attacks on freedom of expression in Togo.” Mr. Balding noted that Togo had recently jailed another journalist, Alphonse Nevamé Klu, publication director of the weekly Nouvel Echo, who is accused of “distribution of false news.”
The jailing of Mr. Messan, a critic of President Gnassingbé Eyadéma’s regime, was seen as part of a larger campaign to silence the independent press.
According to reports, Mr. Messan had been charged in connection with a press release he signed from the Togolese Private Press Editors Association concerning alleged extra-judicial killings in Togo in June 1998.
The WAN delegation to Togo had included leading publishers and editors from West Africa.
WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 17,000 newspapers; its membership includes 67 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 93 countries, 17 news agencies and eight regional and world-wide press groups.
