(IFJ/IFEX) – The editor-in-chief of the newspaper “le Reporter des Temps Nouveaux”, Romain Koudjodji, was released on 29 June 1999, further to the conclusion of his trial in which he received a two-month suspended sentence and was ordered to pay a fine of one million CFA Francs (approx. US$1,562) and an additional symbolic fine of […]
(IFJ/IFEX) – The editor-in-chief of the newspaper “le Reporter des Temps
Nouveaux”, Romain Koudjodji, was released on 29 June 1999, further to the
conclusion of his trial in which he received a two-month suspended sentence
and was ordered to pay a fine of one million CFA Francs (approx. US$1,562)
and an additional symbolic fine of 1 Franc to the police department.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 10 June and 30 April 1999**
The trial took place on 28 June, further to a 14 June court hearing in which
the verdict was delayed for two weeks. After the verdict was announced,
Koudjodji remained imprisoned for twenty-four hours. According to the public
prosecutor’s office, he was required to be held, in accordance with a mesure
called “restraint of the person”, until he had fully paid the one million
CFA Franc fine. It was only futher to his lawyers’ insistence that Koudjodji
was finally released the next day, 29 June, with the condition that he pay
100,000 CFA Francs each month. If the journalist fails to make the monthly
payments, he will be reincarcerated, and his fine will be converted to a
prison term.
