31 March 2004
DRAFT LAW SCRAPS CRIMINAL DEFAMATION
Authorities in the Central African Republic (CAR) have drafted a law that removes criminal defamation provisions from the country's penal code, following calls by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) urging President François Bozizé to uphold his commitment to press freedom.
With support from the United Nations' peace-building unit (BONUCA) in the country, legal experts have drafted a bill under which journalists cannot be imprisoned for defaming or slandering a third party in a published article, reports IRIN News.
However, publications or broadcasters who "incite hatred or violence" are not given the same protection. The proposed bill comes in response to a national reconciliation forum held in September 2003, which recommended the decriminalisation of defamation laws.
Under the current Penal Code, a journalist convicted of defaming or slandering the head of state can be jailed for up to five years.
In a recent case highlighted by CPJ and RSF, Judes Zossé, the publication director of the privately owned newspaper "L'Hirondelle" ("The Swallow"), was sentenced to six months in prison for insulting the head of state. He was also fined 200,000 CFA Francs (US$375). Zossé has been detained since February 2004. CPJ and RSF have called for his release (see CPJ's letter to President Bozizé: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/57423/).
Zossé had written an article alleging that Bozizé had personally taken over the collection of state tax revenue, prompting two senior Treasury officials to contemplate resignation, CPJ notes. The article first appeared on http://Centrafrique-presse.com, a website run by the spokesperson of former President Ange-Félix, whom Bozizé deposed in a coup in March 2003.
CPJ's recently released report on CAR provides useful background information on press freedom in the country: http://www.cpj.org/attacks03/africa03/central.html
Visit these links:
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=9525
- IRIN News on Bozizé's Record One Year After the Coup:
www.irinnews.org
- UN Peace-Building Support Office in CAR: http://www.un.org/Depts/dpa/docs/conflict/central_africa.html
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