(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is protesting the continued detention of a Togolese journalist in Lomé. According to RSF’s information, on 19 April 1999, Romain Koudjodji, editor-in-chief of the weekly “Le Reporter des Temps Nouveaux”, was detained by police officers. The journalist is accused of “slander and and distribution of false news”, for having written a headline […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is protesting the continued detention of a Togolese
journalist in Lomé. According to RSF’s information, on 19 April 1999, Romain
Koudjodji, editor-in-chief of the weekly “Le Reporter des Temps Nouveaux”,
was detained by police officers. The journalist is accused of “slander and
and distribution of false news”, for having written a headline article in
the newspaper’s 16 April edition titled: “Members of the police force from
the Lakes’ police headquarters torture a CAR activist”. The article went on
to explain how police officers in the region attacked a member of CAR (an
opposition party) who was distributing pamphlets calling for a boycott of
legislative elections. A photograph accompanying the article showed a man
with “both fractured arms in casts”.
**Updates IFEX alert of 30 April 1999**
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the public prosecutor:
including “slander”, are considered by international human rights bodies to
be “disproportionate” to
the prejudice suffered by the victim of such infractions, without commenting
on the details of the incriminating article
Commission on Human Rights underlined that as a sanction for expressing an
opinion, detention constitutes one of the most reprehensible means of
imposing silence, and, as such, is a gross violation of human rights
prison sentences in press-related cases
release
of Koudjodji
State
and that the newspaper has been forced to cease publishing due to the
absence of its editor-in-chief
Appeals To
Mr. Atara Ndakena
Public Prosecutor
High Court
Lomé, Togo
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
