September 15, 2006
Posted: September 22, 2006
Virgil Linkpon, La Diaspora de Sabbat
Fulric Richard Couao-Zotti, La Diaspora de Sabbat
IMPRISONED
Linkpon and Couao-Zotti, respectively managing editor and editor of the private weekly La Diaspora de Sabbat, were arrested in connection with a story about the president’s family, according to CPJ sources in the capital Cotonou.
The two journalists were arrested following an article in the September 14 issue of the paper, which claimed that President Yayi Boni’s oldest son was mentally ill, according to Joseph Perzo Anago, head of the Benin media center, and local media reports. Tiburce Adagbé, an advisor to the president contacted by CPJ, claimed that the two journalists had attacked the head of state and his family “repeatedly.”
They were brought before the state prosecutor on September 18 and freed without charge.