19 September 2006

Alert

Court imposes heavy fine on three journalists for insulting president


Incident details

Coulibaly Seydou, Frédéric Koffi, Edouard Gonto

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(RSF/IFEX) - On 18 September 2006, Coulibaly Seydou, the managing editor of the privately-owned daily "Le Jour Plus", Frédéric Koffi, its editor, and Edouard Gonto, one of its journalists, were jointly fined a total of 15 million CFA francs (22,867 euros) by an Abidjan court for "contempt of the head of state" in an article that said President Gbagbo's wife was partly to blame for the dumping of toxic waste in Abidjan.

Their lawyer has filed an appeal, and until the outcome is known, they will not have to pay the fine.



Source:

Reporters Without Borders
47, rue Vivienne
75002 Paris
France
rsf (@) rsf.org
Phone: +33 1 44 83 84 84
Fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51
 

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Updates to this story

Editor, journalist arrested, detained and summarily tried but spared punishment in defamation case 21 September 2006

More on this case

Managing editor, journalist and editor charged with "offence against the head of state" 14 September 2006 Two journalists arrested for linking president's wife to toxic waste dumped in Abidjan 13 September 2006

Côte d'Ivoire

Two detained journalists released 3 February 2012 Newspaper editor arrested for publishing "confidential information" 1 February 2012 Human remains found not to be those of missing journalist 13 January 2012 Human remains found could be those of missing journalist Guy-André Kieffer 9 January 2012 TV presenter provisionally released after being held for five months 2 January 2012 See all alerts: Côte d'Ivoire


 
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