(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Togolese State Prosecutor Atara N’Dakéna, RSF requested the release of Hippolyte Agboh, editor of the weekly “L’Exilé”. While not wishing to comment on the substance of the case, and while reminding journalists of their duty to verify information, RSF asked the State prosecutor to “see to it that Hippolyte […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Togolese State Prosecutor Atara N’Dakéna, RSF requested the release of Hippolyte Agboh, editor of the weekly “L’Exilé”. While not wishing to comment on the substance of the case, and while reminding journalists of their duty to verify information, RSF asked the State prosecutor to “see to it that Hippolyte Agboh is released and is not sentenced by the justice system”. The organisation’s secretary-general, Robert Ménard, added that in January 2000, “the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression stated that ‘imprisonment as punishment for the peaceful expression of an opinion constitutes a serious violation of human rights’.”
According to the information collected by RSF, on 14 April 2000, Agboh gave himself up at Lomé 2, the residence of President Gnassingbé Eyadéma, in order to be interrogated about an article titled: “Rumor or reality: one of the daughters of the Head of State is dead”. The journalist was then taken to the police station, and later to the Lomé prison. In his article, Agboh stated that “according to independent sources, one of the Head of State’s youngest children, Liling Gnassingbé, has died” in a car accident in Lomé. On 17 April, the government denied this information and said in a statement that “the individual in question is alive and well and is currently on holiday with her family”. The next day, Agboh appeared before the Criminal Court in the capital and was charged with “slander”. The hearing was adjourned to a later, unspecified date, because a number of documents were missing.
