Two Togolese journalists critical of the government, who had been arrested in mid-December, were indicted for “contempt of authority” and “spreading falsehoods on social networksAFP learned from their lawyer on Saturday.
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Ferdinand Ayité and Joël Egah, respectively publication directors of the bi-weekly The alternative and the weekly Fraternity were arrested on December 10 after complaints from two ministers for comments made in a program broadcast on Youtube.
“The two journalists were transferred to Lomé prison on Friday. I submitted two requests for provisional release, which were rejected“, Their lawyer Me Elom Kpadé told AFP. “The whole truth will be told at trial and opinion will be informed“, he added. A third journalist, who had also participated in the program, was heard by the judge and placed under judicial supervision, according to Mr. Kpadé.
According to the public prosecutor Talaka Mawama, these journalists are being prosecuted “on the basis of the penal code», Their comments having been made on a social network. Now, this “means of communication is excluded from the scope of the law relating to the press and communication code“, He explained on December 15 on national television.
Amnesty International has already denounced on December 13 the “arbitrary detention“Of the two press men and demanded their release”immediate“, Denouncing”arbitrary detention” and “an attack on freedom of expression“. “Authorities seek to silence voices critical of power», Reproached Fabien Offner, researcher on West Africa at Amnesty International.
According to him, these journalists were “detained only for having made comments on the program + The other newspaper +, broadcast on YouTube“, wherein “they criticized two ministers“. Local human rights organizations and opposition parties have also called in recent days to release the two journalists.
The Alternative and Fraternity are newspapers critical of the government. The Alternative was suspended in February for four months in a case involving the current Minister of Urbanism Koffi Tsolenyanu.
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In March 2020, this newspaper was sanctioned with two months of suspension after a complaint from the former French ambassador to Togo, Marc Vizy. The newspaper Fraternité was also suspended in March 2020 for two months, following an article denouncing the suspension of two other newspapers.