The directors of the newspapers L’Alternative et Fraternité, Ferdinand Ayité and Joël Egah, arrested since December 10, have been transferred to the civil prison in Lomé. The charges against them are “contempt of authority” and “spreading false words on social media”.
“For the past two weeks, my clients’ situation has remained static, and it hasn’t really changed. The two requests for provisional release that I made in this case were all rejected. So, we are awaiting a future, future and imminent trial, ”said their lawyer Mr. Elom Kpade.
He added that he always remains confident that his clients will be released because the arguments and the means that they have always put forward since the beginning of the procedure are “arguments of rights”.
The lawyer accused the authorities of not having dealt with the case as recommended by the press code, but in a recent intervention the public prosecutor indicated that the case would be treated as a press offense, only if the journalists had committed these “offenses” on their corresponding platforms, not on social media.
Meanwhile, NGOs , international organizations, human rights organisations and opposition political parties keep asking for the release of these journalists.
Source : icilome.com