IVORY COAST

Country Summary

Despite significant restrictions on press freedom, and the threat of seditious libel charges, the Ivoirien independent press continues to publish articles critical of President Konan Bédié and his government’s policies. President Bédié has little tolerance for what he considers “insults or attacks on the honor of the country’s highest officials,” and he is strictly enforcing the penalty for the “crime” of critical reporting: a three-month -to-two-year prison term for offending the president, the prime minister, foreign chiefs of state, or their diplomatic representatives, or defaming state institutions.

Opposition newspapers such as La Voie are routinely hauled into court to face defamation charges. In December, La Voie publisher Abou Drahamane Sangaré, deputy editor Freedom Neruda, and reporter Emmanuel Koré completed the first year of their two-year prison terms for insulting the president. In August, Bédié had offered the journalists a presidential pardon, which they refused, choosing instead to challenge the outstanding charges against them in the Supreme Court. With a severely compromised judiciary on his side, Bédié has succeeded in keeping the case out of the courts and, to date, the journalists have been refused a court date to file their appeal.

The state owns both television channels and two major radio stations, which are used to promote government policies; only the primary government radio and television stations are broadcast nationwide. Currently, four independent radio stations and a private television subscription service, Canal Horizon, broadcast primarily in the Abidjan metropolitan area.

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