"Gnassingbé's lawyers are stalling in order to win more time and meanwhile the magazine continues to be banned in Togo," said RSF.
(RSF/IFEX) – The regional bimonthly “Tribune d’Afrique”‘s appeal hearing opened on 10 February 2011 in Lomé but was immediately adjourned at the request of the lawyers representing Mey Gnassingbé, the president’s half-brother and a member of the president’s office, who brought a successful libel suit against the publication in 2010.
Accepting the claims of Mey Gnassingbé’s lawyers that they had not had enough time to prepare their case, the court ordered an adjournment until 14 April.
“Mey Gnassingbé’s lawyers are just stalling in order to win more time and meanwhile the magazine continues to be banned in Togo,” said Reporters Without Borders and Avocats Sans Frontières, which are providing “Tribune d’Afrique” with moral and legal support.
The two NGOs call on the Togolese authorities to lift the ban provisionally pending the next hearing in two months’ time.
