(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Communications Lia Bi Douyoua, RSF protested the three month prison sentence handed down to Méité Sindou, editor-in-chief of the daily “Le Patriote”, and Patrice Lénonhin, publication director with the same paper, for defamation. RSF asked that “the punishment not be applied, and that the charges weighing against […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Communications Lia Bi Douyoua, RSF protested the three month prison sentence handed down to Méité Sindou, editor-in-chief of the daily “Le Patriote”, and Patrice Lénonhin, publication director with the same paper, for defamation. RSF asked that “the punishment not be applied, and that the charges weighing against the journalists be dropped.” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard added that “the sentence is disproportionate to the harm caused.” The organisation recalled that Abid Hussain, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and freedom of expression, noted in a January 2000 document that imprisonment as a punishment for violations such as “defamatory writings”, “insults” or “dishonouring the head of state” is both reprehensible and disproportionate to the harm suffered by the victim.
According to information collected by RSF, on 8 May 2001, Sindou and Lénonhin were sentenced in absentia to three months’ imprisonment and fined 100,000 CFA francs (US$134; 152 euros). The sentence punishes the journalists for an article published in June 2000 that implicated Martin Bléou, president of the Ivoirian League of Human Rights (Ligue ivoirienne des droits de l’homme), in a fraud case. The article made mention of a bank transfer to an account in Switzerland in the name of the league president, in the sum of 1,047,379 French francs (US$140,271; 159,671 euros). RSF is surprised that neither Sindou, Lénonhin, nor their lawyers were summoned to appear. The journalists learned of their sentence through the press. Bléou was exonerated in the case and the court ordered the publication of the decision in the local press.
