(MISA/IFEX) – The following item is forwarded by MISA from the PANA Dakar news feed: Two Côte d’Ivoire journalists, accused of defamation, have been given a six-month suspended sentence each and fined 500,000 CFA francs (approx. US$868) each after being found guilty of the charge by a court in Abidjan. The two, Diegou Bailly, director […]
(MISA/IFEX) – The following item is forwarded by MISA from the PANA Dakar
news feed:
Two Côte d’Ivoire journalists, accused of defamation, have been given a
six-month suspended sentence each and fined 500,000 CFA francs (approx.
US$868) each after being found guilty of the charge by a court in Abidjan.
The two, Diegou Bailly, director and publisher of “Le Jour”, and his
reporter, Joachim Beugre, were also ordered by the court Tuesday to pay
damages of 100 million CFA francs (approx. US$1,737) to their victim.
“Le Jour” in October published a story of a minor, who claimed he had been
sodomised several times by a number of people, including former Ivoirian
infrastructure minister Ezan Akele. Akele, to prove his innocence, took the
paper to court for defamation of character and demanded 500 million CFA
francs from the publishers. After a series of closed door and public
hearings, the court, presided by Bertin Brou Bouassi, said the newspaper’s
account was unfounded.
