Jean Hélène

The brutal murder of a French journalist in the Ivory Coast in October highlighted the lack of security in the country in 2003. The killing came after the collapse of the government of national reconciliation in September, when rebels walked out and accused President Laurent Gbagbo of refusing to fully implement the peace process. Despite…

New York, January 23, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the verdict delivered yesterday by a military court in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, Abidjan, sentencing an Ivoirian police officer to 17 years in prison for the October 2003 murder of Radio France Internationale (RFI) correspondent Jean Hélène. The court found Sgt. Théodore Séry Dago…

New York, January 2, 2004—A total of 36 journalists were killed worldwide as a direct result of their work in 2003, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). This is a sharp increase from 2002, when 19 journalists were killed. The war in Iraq was the primary reason for the increase, as 13 journalists,…

New York, October 22, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemns the Tuesday, October 21, assassination of Jean Hélène, correspondent for Radio France Internationale (RFI) in Ivory Coast’s capital, Abidjan. According to diplomats and eyewitnesses, Hélène was shot by a police officer on Tuesday evening outside the national police headquarters in central Abidjan while…