Gbenouga, editor and publisher of the independent biweekly Tribune des Démocrates, was arrested on April 26, 1994, following the publication of an article in the April 22 edition that quoted the French Minister of Cooperation reproaching President Eyadema for the delay in appointing a new prime minister. The issue also carried an editorial by Gbenouga that criticized the president’s military rule, corruption, falsification of facts and exploitation of ethnic politics. On May 6, he was sentenced to five years in prison and five million CFA for slandering President Eyadema. Gbenouga was held in the Civil Prison in Lome until May 18, when he was transferred to a remote prison in Mango. On Jan. 12, 1995, an appeals court reduced his sentence to one year and his fine to one million CFA.