(CPJ/IFEX) – On 20 July 1998, the N’djamena Magistrate Court sentenced managing editor Singa Gali Koumbo and reporter Polycarpe Togomissi, of the independent bi-monthly newspaper “L’Observateur,” to a two-year suspended jail sentence and a fine of 1 million CFA (US$1,700.00) each. The journalists have 10 days to appeal the sentences. **Updates IFEX alert of 4 […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – On 20 July 1998, the N’djamena Magistrate Court sentenced
managing
editor Singa Gali Koumbo and reporter Polycarpe Togomissi, of the
independent bi-monthly newspaper “L’Observateur,” to a two-year suspended
jail sentence and a fine of
1 million CFA (US$1,700.00) each. The journalists have 10 days to appeal the
sentences.
**Updates IFEX alert of 4 June 1998**
Koumbo and Togomissi were charged with “complicity to defamation” for
publishing an interview approximately one year ago in which Ngarledjy
Yorongar, a member of parliament representing the opposition party
Federation d’Action pour la Republique (FAR), accused Assembly President
Wadal Abdelkader of receiving a payment of 15 million French francs from the
French oil corporation, ELF.
