On July 26, 2025, Djobo Bio, a reporter for the community radio station FM Nonsina, was arrested and accused of spreading false news in connection with a July 22, 2025, post on the outlet’s Facebook page.
Bio told CPJ that on that day, the commissioner of Sinendé, an area in north-central Benin, within the government department of Borgou, transferred him to Parakou, the department’s capital, based on a warrant from the departmental director of the Republican Police. Bio said that he was accused of spreading false news and harassment by electronic means, which he denied, before being transferred to Cotonou, Benin’s largest city along its southern coast, on July 28.
On July 31, a prosecutor at the Court for the Repression of Economic Offenses and Terrorism (CRIET) released Bio and ordered him to respond to a new summons on October 16, according to Bio, who spoke to CPJ, and a statement from the Federation of Community and Similar Radios of Benin. The summons only mentioned the false news allegation, Bio said.
The offending July 22 post reported an attack in a Sinendé village against a herder and his wife. The post did not identify the assailants. It was the second attack in a week in the locality after a previous one that killed five people, Bio alleged in the post.
CPJ's calls to CRIET and the Republican Police in Borgou in late August went unanswered.