Sangaré, director of publications for the Nouvel Horizon Group, which owns the opposition daily La Voie, and Koré, a reporter for La Voie, were arrested in connection with a Dec. 18 satirical La Voie article that suggested that President Henri Konan Bédié’s attendance at the African Champions Cup final brought bad luck to Ivory Coast’s national soccer team, causing its loss to South Africa. On Dec. 28, Sangaré and Koré each received a two-year prison term for “offending the chief of state” and a 3 million CFA (US$6,000) fine. They were released on Jan. 1, 1997.