|
|
|
|
Imprisoned
January 2
Freedom Neruda, La Voie, IMPRISONED
Neruda, deputy editor of the independent opposition daily La Voie, was taken into custody for questioning. Police had been searching for him since the December 1995 arrest of his colleagues Abou Drahamane Sangaré, the publications director of the Nouvel Horizon group, which owns La Voie, and Emmanuel Koré, a La Voie reporter. On Jan. 3, Neruda was charged with insulting the head of state in connection with a satirical article published in La Voie suggesting that President Henri Konan Bédié's presence at the African Champions Cup final brought bad luck to the Ivorian soccer team, which lost to South Africa's Orlando Pirates. On Jan. 11, Neruda was sentenced to two years in prison and fined CFA 6 million (US$12,000). CPJ wrote to President Bédié on two occasions: first, to protest Neruda's arrest, and second, to condemn his sentencing and urge the president to revoke it along with the other two-year prison sentences handed down to Sangaré and Koré for "offending the chief of state." On June 12, an appeals court confirmed the sentences and Neruda and his colleagues filed an appeal with the Supreme Court. CPJ again wrote to Bédié and called for the reversal of the convictions and the immediate release of Neruda, Sangaré, and Koré. They were released on Jan. 1, 1997.
For more information contact africaweb@cpj.org