Côte d'Ivoire

Charles Sanga was arrested due to an article published in “Le Patriote”, which stated that the Constitutional Council had decided to annul parliamentary elections in 11 districts where results had been disputed; information that had not yet been announced publicly.

DNA tests have established that the remains of a body found in Côte d’Ivoire were not those of Franco-Canadian journalist Guy-André Kieffer after all.

The body was found after a tip-off in a village in the western region of Issia.

Hermann Aboa continues to face prosecution on charges of threatening the nation’s defences, attacking and conspiring against state authorities, undermining national territorial integrity, participating in an armed band, participating in an insurrectional movement and attacking public order.

A criminal court in Abidjan acquitted César Etou, Boga Sivori, and Didier Dépry for “lack of evidence”. Damage claims sought against the three were also dismissed by the court.

César Etou, Boga Sivori and Didier Dépry are charged with “incitement to theft, looting and destruction of the property of others through the press” and could face harsh prison sentences.

César Etou and Boga Sivori were arrested in connection with an article that claimed President Ouattara had acquired luxury Mercedes Benz cars for himself and members of his cabinet.

Hermann Aboa has been held in custody for four months and faces six charges that could lead to life in prison.

Since the soldiers’ deployment, the paper’s offices have been under lock and key and newspaper staff have been barred from accessing equipment and archival materials.

The state-owned Ivorian Television resumed operations after almost five months of being off the air, following a clash over its control by the Ouattara and Gbagbo forces.

The National Press Council suspended “Le Temps” for 12 days for reprinting an opinion column criticising a meeting between President Obama and President Ouattara.

A communiqué issued by the president’s chief of staff said that what prompted the dismissal was RTI’s failure to cover the president’s return from a goodwill and working visit to the United States.

Hermann Aboa’s arrest contradicts President Ouattara’s public pledges that pro-Gbagbo journalists would not be persecuted, says CPJ.

Serge Grah was abducted by six armed men believed to be elements of the Côte d’Ivoire Republican Forces (FRCI) loyal to President Alassane Ouattara.

“Notre Voie”, a daily that supports former President Laurent Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), is in newsstands again for the first time since Gbagbo’s ouster on 11 April 2011.

The bullet-ridden body of Radio Yopougon assistant editor-in-chief Lago Sylvain Gagneto was found among dozens of bodies buried in mass graves in Yopougon, an Abidjan neighborhood.