The Beninese journalist, Ignace Sossou was sentenced last December to 18 months in prison on a cyber-harassment charge following a complaint by the public prosecutor. The journalist was accused of “harassment” by the public prosecutor after posting on tweeter.
His appeal trial was scheduled for Tuesday 28 April, but as soon as it opened, the hearing was postponed.
The day before his arrest, the journalist had posted on social networks comments attributed to public prosecutor Mario Metonou, who was speaking at a forum organized in Cotonou by Canal France International (CFI) – the French media cooperation operator for African countries – to discuss “fake news”. The comments relayed seemed rather critical of the Beninese government’s attitude towards freedom of expression.
He accuses the journalist of having taken his comments out of context and urges him, with the support of CFI teams, to suppress these publications that his eyes cannot see. Ignace Sossou refused.