\n
Two Togolese journalists were indicted and jailed in Lom\u00e9 on Wednesday, accused of \u201cdefamation\u201d after claiming on social networks that a minister had had the equivalent of 600,000 euros stolen from his home, their relatives said.<\/p>\n
Lo\u00efc Lawson, publication director of the newspaper Flambeau des D\u00e9mocrates, and Anani Sossou, a freelance journalist, were taken into custody on Monday.<\/p>\n
They are being prosecuted for \u201cdefamation and attack on the honor of the Minister and incitement to revolt\u201d, for having claimed on social networks that the Minister of Urban Planning, Housing and Land Reform, Kodjo Adedze, had had 400 million FCFA (604,875 euros) stolen from his home.<\/p>\n
The Minister, who had indeed reported the burglary to the police without the amount being made public, had complained about them.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the journalists retracted their claims, explaining on Facebook that \u201cextensive investigations\u201d had shown that \u201cthe amount communicated was overestimated and would not reach the sum of 400 million FCFA\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe two journalists were taken to the prison (in Lom\u00e9) on Wednesday at around 10am. They appeared before the first deputy on Tuesday evening, who interviewed them for around thirty minutes, before referring them to the examining magistrate who issued them with a committal order\u201d, Magloire T\u00eako Kinvi, editor-in-chief of Le Flambeau des D\u00e9mocrates, told AFP.<\/p>\n
In a message posted on X (formerly Twitter), the journalists\u2019 rights organization Reporters sans fronti\u00e8res called for their immediate release.<\/p>\n
As did the International Union of the French-speaking Press (UPF), which demanded the \u201crelease\u201d of the two journalists in a press release issued on Tuesday. Lo\u00efc Lawson is president of the Togolese section of the Union de la presse francophone (UPF-Togo).<\/p>\n
The UPF called on the authorities to \u201cguarantee them fair and transparent treatment\u201d while respecting \u201cfreedom of the press\u201d and \u201cthe right to information\u201d.<\/p>\n
In Togo, social networks are excluded from the scope of the law on the press and communication code, which came into force this year. In the event of infringement, prosecution is based on the penal code.<\/p>\n
Last March, two Togolese journalists were sentenced in absentia to three years imprisonment by the Lom\u00e9 High Court, notably for \u201cinsulting authority\u201d and \u201cspreading false information on social networks\u201d, following complaints from two ministers, including Mr. Adedze.<\/p>\n
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Two Togolese journalists were indicted and jailed in Lom\u00e9 on Wednesday, accused of \u201cdefamation\u201d after claiming on social networks that a minister had had the equivalent of 600,000 euros stolen from his home, their relatives said. Lo\u00efc Lawson, publication director of the newspaper Flambeau des D\u00e9mocrates, and Anani Sossou, a freelance journalist, were taken into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-africa"],"yoast_head":"\n
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