(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the minister of the interior and security, General Sizing Walla, RSF protested the seizure of the two opposition weeklies “Le Combat du Peuple” and “Le Scorpion”. RSF asked that “the seized copies of the newspapers be returned to their owners” and that “the authorities stop harassing the newspapers’ managing […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the minister of the interior and security, General Sizing Walla, RSF protested the seizure of the two opposition weeklies “Le Combat du Peuple” and “Le Scorpion”. RSF asked that “the seized copies of the newspapers be returned to their owners” and that “the authorities stop harassing the newspapers’ managing editors”. Recalling that copies of “Combat du Peuple” were previously seized on 5 June and 17 July (see IFEX alert of 19 July 2000), RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard asked the minister to “put an end to the harassment of opposition newspapers, notably when they publish articles on the human rights situation in Togo.”
According to information collected by RSF, on 31 July 2000, copies of “Le Combat du Peuple” and “Le Scorpion” were seized by police in Lomé. The two weeklies had published a report of the Togolese League of Human Rights (Ligue togolaise des droits de l’homme, LTDH), which was first released on 20 July. The report reviews human rights violations in the West African country in the year 2000 to date. The document details many cases of arbitrary arrests, torture and press freedom violations. Also on 31 July, Lucien Messan and Basile Agboh, managing editors of “Le Combat du Peuple” and “Le Scorpion”, respectively, were detained by police and interrogated by General Walla, along with LTDH President Kofimessa Devotsou.
RSF recalled that this is the third such seizure of “Le Combat du Peuple” in less than one month. Several other newspapers have recently been the target of similar measures, All the copies of “Le Nouvel Echo” were seized on 24 March. Copies of “La Nouvelle République” and “Le Nouveau Combattant” were seized on 28 and 29 March. Finally, “Le Crocodile” and “Le Scorpion” met the same fate, on 6 and 17 April, respectively. These seizures were ordered without any written notification having been addressed to the publications’ managing editors (see IFEX alert of 25 April 2000).
