(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to President of the Republic Mathieu Kérékou, RSF asked for the immediate release of journalist Vincent Foly, in Cotonou. RSF pointed out that Benin ratified the International Accord on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression. Robert Ménard, secretary general of RSF, added, “This explains why today, no […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to President of the Republic Mathieu Kérékou, RSF asked for the immediate release of journalist Vincent Foly, in Cotonou. RSF pointed out that Benin ratified the International Accord on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression. Robert Ménard, secretary general of RSF, added, “This explains why today, no democratic state imposes prison sentences in affairs of the press.”
According to information gathered by RSF, on 26 January 2000, Vincent Foly, editor of the daily “Le Point”, was detained and imprisoned in the civil jail in Cotonou. In September 1999, while Foly was a journalist with the daily “Le Matin,” he was sentenced to twelve months in prison after the publication of an article revealing misappropriation of funds, of which an authority at the Agency for Air Nagivation Security (ASECNA) was found guilty.
