Journalist Apollinaire Mewenemesse, who was arrested on March 28, 2024, for publishing an article concerning the death of an associate of Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé, has been released on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, according to reports from his lawyer to the AFP.
Mewenemesse faced seven (07) charges including: “concocting and disseminating false news” with the intent to inspire “the population or the military to rebel against the State,” “glorification against national defense and state security,” and “publishing in written press a piece that has undermined the honor, dignity, and respect of the President of the Republic.” Apollinaire Mewenemesse, the 71-year-old editor of La Dépêche newspaper, who had been detained since March 28, 2024, regained his freedom on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. “Apollinaire Mewenemesse has been released on judicial supervision. We filed a request for release today following his interrogation,” his lawyer, Me Darius Kokou Atsoo, told AFP.
It is noteworthy that after the publication of the article titled “The sordid assassination of Colonel Madjoulba: could General Félix Kadangha Abalo be Togo’s Captain Dreyfus?” La Dépêche was suspended for 3 months on March 4 by the High Authority of Audiovisual and Communication (HAAC) for “incitement to tribal hatred,” “call for ethnic confrontation between officers in the army,” and “incitement to popular revolt,” according to local press reports and Le Monde.
Indeed, Colonel Bitala Madjoulba, commander of the 1st Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), was found dead in his office on May 4, 2020, the day after President Gnassingbé’s inauguration. An autopsy revealed a gunshot wound. The colonel, whose career was notable, was part of President Gnassingbé’s inner circle.
Colonel Madjoulba’s death caused a stir in the country and in November 2023, five soldiers, including a general, were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 5 to 20 years. Two Togolese journalists were jailed for 18 days in November for “defamation” against Minister of Urban Planning Kodjo Adedze.
Then, in March 2023, two other Togolese journalists were sentenced in absentia to three years in prison by the Court of First Instance in Lomé for “contempt of authority” and “spreading false statements on social networks,” following complaints from two ministers, including Mr. Adedze.