On July 27, 2026, French journalists Sebastian Perez Pezzani and Gaël Mocaër and their Togolese fixer Komi Mawufemo Vedomey were arrested while filming a documentary in northern Togo.
Tony Comiti, founder of the production company Tony Comiti Productions, told CPJ the journalists were shooting “a travel and adventure documentary for the 'Les Routes de l’impossible’ series, broadcast on France Télévisions.”
He told French broadcaster France Inter that the team was placed under house arrest at a local hotel, in northern Kara region, their footage was confiscated, and they were accused of espionage. The three men were briefly released after judicial authorities reviewed their footage but were re-arrested two hours later.
On August 4, they were transferred to a police facility in the capital Lomé.
On August 17, Pezzani, Mocaër, and Vedomey were charged with having made “false statements,” which they denied, their lawyer, Martial Akakpo, told CPJ.
For Pezzani and Mocaër, the charges related to their visa applications, while Vedomey was investigated over a discrepancy between the profession on his passport and that in the team’s filming permit application, Akakpo said.
Akakpo said the culture ministry’s National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image (CNCIA), gave the journalists permission to film in several locations in Kara region, but they inadvertently crossed out of that area while filming a truck.
On August 19, the government’s High Authority for the Regulation of Written, Audiovisual, and Digital Communication (HARC) said the two French journalists and France Télévisions had not requested accreditation, as required by the press code.
Vedomey, who applied for the CNCIA permit, denied any wrongdoing and said he provided information in accordance with its guidance, his lawyer said. Comiti said the permit was granted to “documentary filmmakers.”
On August 20, an investigative judge in Lomé provisionally released Pezzani on medical grounds but ordered his passport be confiscated pending his next court appearance, Akakpo said.
On August 22, the justice and human rights ministry said in a statement that the journalists had traveled to three locations that were not included in the culture ministry’s authorization: two areas in Kara region and the northern city of Mango in Savanes region, which has been under a state of emergency since 2022 due to jihadist attacks. Reporting from the region is heavily restricted.
“The facts at issue in the proceedings concern neither the documentary’s editorial content nor the exercise of press freedom, but exclusively compliance with the administrative, regulatory, and security provisions applicable within the national territory,” the statement said.
On September 1, 2026, a judge granted Mocaër and Vedomey a provisional release, requiring them to respond to future court summons.
CPJ’s August 2026 calls to request comment from government spokesperson Yawa Kouigan and the CNC went unanswered.