(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC is deeply dismayed to learn of the prison sentence handed down to Lucien Messan, editorial director of the weekly “Le Combat du Peuple”. Messan was given an eighteen- month sentence (six months of which is suspended) on 5 June 2001 for “falsehood and the use of falsehood.” The verdict was based on […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC is deeply dismayed to learn of the prison sentence handed down to Lucien Messan, editorial director of the weekly “Le Combat du Peuple”. Messan was given an eighteen- month sentence (six months of which is suspended) on 5 June 2001 for “falsehood and the use of falsehood.”
The verdict was based on a denunciation by Interior Minister General Walla that Messan, 55, had signed a press release put out by the Togolese Private Press Publishers Association (l’Association togolaise des éditeurs de la presse privée – ATEPP). The release lambasted statements by the Togolese prime minister to the effect that “publication directors were unanimous in affirming that there have never been hundreds of deaths in Togo.” The statement also made it clear that ATEPP felt that the government had attempted to use the private press for its own ends. Lucien Messan’s son, Messan S. Junior, the publication director of “Le Combat du Peuple”, is the authorised signatory of ATEPP statements.
This is not the first time that Messan, an outspoken critic of the Togolese government, has been detained. In September 1998 he was arrested and accused of “spreading false news.”
Aside from the possible miscarriage of justice due to the confusion of Lucien Messan with his son, International PEN is disturbed that a prison sentence should be handed down for what amounts to a right to reply. It calls upon the Togolese authorities to release Messan immediately and unconditionally.
[Sources: Reporters sans frontières (RSF) and Independent Journalists Union of Togo (UJIT)]
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the Togolese authorities:
– expressing serious concern over the verdict reached by the court
– urging them to release Messan immediately and unconditionally
Appeals To
H.E. Ambassador to France
Ambassade du Togo
Paris, France
Fax: +33 1 56 26 04 46
President Gnassingbe Eyadema
Présidence de la République
Résidence Lomé II
Lomé, Togo
Fax: +228 21 18 97
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
