Newspaper Temporarily Suspended; Its Editor Banned from Publishing for Three Months

On 5th April 2023, Côte d’Ivoire’s national media regulator, the Autorité Nationale de la Presse (ANP), suspended the newspaper Le Temps for six issues from 6th April 2023 and banned its publication director, Yacouba Gbané, from writing and publishing for a period of three months. The ANP accuses the newspaper, reportedly close to the opposition PPA-CI of Laurent Gbagbo, of having harmed the judiciary in its edition of 20th March 2023. Le Temps had published a photo of the judge in charge of the investigation into the presumed involvement of PPA-CI secretary general Damana Pickass in the attack on a barracks in 2021. The ANP said that the photo was published “without consent” of the judge and “undermines the secrecy of the investigation”.

Suspended from writing for a period of three months, Yacouba Gbané regrets " targeted sanctions ". " We have not given any information on the investigation, nor on the interrogation of the secretary general of the PPA-CI before the judge ", assures this journalist.