In a ruling issued on January 9, 2009, the state-run media
regulator, the High Communication Council, suspended from circulation the
private daily Le Citoyen for one month for allegedly
violating journalism ethics, according to news reports and local
journalists.
Committee to Protect Journalists
Central African Republic
| Angola, Burundi, Censorship, Chad, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Lesotho, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo
UPDATE
FEBRUARY 23, 2008
Posted March 14, 2008
Original alert: January 29, 2008
Faustin Bambou, Les Collines de l'Oubangui IMPRISONED Director Faustin Bambou of the private biweekly Les Collines de l'Oubangui was released from prison on a partial presidential pardon, according to news reports and local journalists. Bambou told CPJ he contracted the flu and malaria while sharing a cell with six or seven cellmates. He was serving a six-month prison sentence on charges of incitement to revolt over a story alleging a high-profile political scandal.
Attacks on the Press
| Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Uganda
Attacks & developments throughout the region
New York, January 29, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Monday’s six-month prison sentence given by the Bangui Magistrates’ Court to the editorial director of a private weekly in the Central African Republic. The editor of Les Collines de l’Oubangui, Faustin Bambou, was found guilty of inciting revolt, abuse, and defamation.
New York, January 15, 2008—A court in the Central African Republic’s capital, Bangui, today sent the director of a private newspaper to prison to await trial on criminal charges in connection with an editorial about a political scandal.
Faustin Bambou of the biweekly Les Collines de l’Oubangui was transferred to Bangui’s main Ngaraba prison after his arraignment on charges of “incitement to disturbances against law and order and revolt against public institutions”—a criminal offense carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison under the penal code, according to defense lawyer Mathias Barthélemy Morouba.
New York, May 8, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists extends its condolences to the colleagues and family of respected Associated Press reporter Anthony Mitchell, who was killed in a weekend plane crash in Cameroon.
Mitchell, 39, a staff reporter with the AP’s Kenya bureau, was among 114 passengers killed when a Kenya Airways aircraft crashed early Saturday shortly after takeoff from the coastal city of Douala, Cameroon, according to news reports. He was returning to Nairobi after completing a weeklong assignment in the Central African Republic on international animal smuggling, AP reported.
Mitchell, 39, a staff reporter with the AP’s Kenya bureau, was among 114 passengers killed when a Kenya Airways aircraft crashed early Saturday shortly after takeoff from the coastal city of Douala, Cameroon, according to news reports. He was returning to Nairobi after completing a weeklong assignment in the Central African Republic on international animal smuggling, AP reported.
New York, April 2, 2007— A criminal court in the Central African Republic’s capital, Bangui, today sentenced to prison the president of a private press group, who has been jailed since March 12 in connection with statements critical of the governmental High Communication Council (HCC), according to news reports.
Michel Alkhaly Ngady—who heads a group of private press editors known by the French acronym GEPPIC—was sentenced to two months in prison and fined 300,000 CFA francs (US$636) on charges of “resistance and disobedience to public authorities and contempt for the laws,” according to the same sources. He was returned to prison, pending an appeal. Today, private newspapers staged a “press-free day” to protest the imprisonment of Ngady, who is also director of the private weekly Les Temps Nouveaux, according to news reports.
Michel Alkhaly Ngady—who heads a group of private press editors known by the French acronym GEPPIC—was sentenced to two months in prison and fined 300,000 CFA francs (US$636) on charges of “resistance and disobedience to public authorities and contempt for the laws,” according to the same sources. He was returned to prison, pending an appeal. Today, private newspapers staged a “press-free day” to protest the imprisonment of Ngady, who is also director of the private weekly Les Temps Nouveaux, according to news reports.
New York, March 13, 2007—The leader of a local group of private press editors was jailed on Monday in the capital Bangui over statements critical of the governmental High Communication Council (HCC).
Editor Michel Alkhaly Ngady of the private weekly Les Temps Nouveaux and the president of GEPPIC, a local organization of publishers, was summoned and jailed in a police station near Bangui’s harbor, according to local journalists and news reports. In a telephone interview, Ngady was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying that the summons was linked to a complaint by HCC President Pierre Sammy-Mackfoy accusing GEPPIC of “sabotaging the actions of the HCC.” He remained in police custody, according to local journalists.
Editor Michel Alkhaly Ngady of the private weekly Les Temps Nouveaux and the president of GEPPIC, a local organization of publishers, was summoned and jailed in a police station near Bangui’s harbor, according to local journalists and news reports. In a telephone interview, Ngady was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying that the summons was linked to a complaint by HCC President Pierre Sammy-Mackfoy accusing GEPPIC of “sabotaging the actions of the HCC.” He remained in police custody, according to local journalists.
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