(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Justice Antoine Gothe, RSF protested the sentencing of Aboukary Tembeley, president of the Mouvement de Défense des Droits de l’Homme (Human Rights Defence Movement, MDDH) and publication director of “Le Journal des droits de l’Homme”, to two months’ imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 CFA francs (US$212; […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Justice Antoine Gothe, RSF protested the sentencing of Aboukary Tembeley, president of the Mouvement de Défense des Droits de l’Homme (Human Rights Defence Movement, MDDH) and publication director of “Le Journal des droits de l’Homme”, to two months’ imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 CFA francs (US$212; 227 euros). “In publishing a survey, Aboukary Tembeley did nothing more than inform the Central African Republic’s citizens. He should not have been troubled and must be immediately released,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard.
According to information collected by RSF, on 5 March 2001, the Bangui court pronounced Tembeley guilty “of manoeuvring likely to compromise public security or lead to serious political troubles”. The court recognised that there were mitigating factors in the case. The publication director was also fined because he did not register a copyright for his publication. In the afternoon of 5 March, Tembeley was transferred from police camp PK12, where he had been detained for a week, to the territorial police centre in Bangui, where he had been mistreated in mid-February.
In the February edition of “Le Journal des droits de l’Homme”, Tembeley published a survey of 200 persons in which the following question was asked: Should President Patassé resign? 173 surveyed persons said they favoured the head of state’s resignation. Tembeley was arrested on 14 February and mistreated while in detention. The human rights activist was hospitalised for one week at his own expense. He suffered numerous head injuries and pulmonary problems after being beaten. In a 15 February letter to the minister of communications, RSF recalled that Tembeley’s detention contravenes Article 15 of Law 98.006 on freedom of communication in the Central African Republic, which stipulates that “journalists have the right to freely investigate all facts which are in the public interest, to bring forward for discussion all actions and declarations of all public and private institutions”.
