The editor and a journalist of Le Temps, an Ivorian daily close to ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, were fined Tuesday five million CFA francs each (7,500 euros) for " defamation ", according to the editors.
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Yacouba Gbané and Barthélémy Téhin, a journalist in the political service, were arrested on Tuesday morning. They were judged in immediate appearance, prosecuted for “ undermining the good repute and the consideration of several members of the government ”, after an article entitled: “ Fraud at the top, corruption: Côte d'Ivoire, a veritable rogue state! ".
" We are going to appeal the decision, " said Ousmane Sy Savane, the managing director of the Cyclone group, which publishes Le Temps. " The place of the journalist is not in the courts or in prison, but in the newsroom while the Constitution voted in 2016 enshrines the right to freedom of information, " deplored Laurent Okoué, vice-president of the Union National Journalists of Côte d'Ivoire (UNJCI), the main professional organization in the country.
The Ivorian media, often very politicized, sometimes contributed to mounting tension in the country, during the long decade of turmoil which culminated in the post-electoral crisis of 2010-2011, which left 3,000 dead. The political climate is hardening in Côte d'Ivoire, eight months before the presidential election. The 2018 municipal and regional elections were marked by violence and fraud.
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