Three Daabaaru TV Journalists Convicted of False Publication Charges

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has expressed disappointment over the conviction of three journalists from Daabaaru TV in Benin on false publication charges.

On June 10, 2024, Barnabas Orou Kouman (journalist and owner of Daabaaru TV), Ismaël Balogou (Editor-in-Chief), and Romaric Fedjebe (presenter of the talk show “Jeudi Libre”) were each given suspended six-month prison sentences and fined 500,000 FCFA (about $900). The court also suspended their program, *Jeudi Libre*, for one month.

The charges stem from an April 4, 2024 broadcast in which a caller, Karim Bio Mago, joked that police at Sirarou Police Station in Parakou had fined two individuals 10,000 FCFA (about $17) for transporting a corpse on a motorbike without a helmet. The police, angered by the claim, summoned the journalists for questioning and later charged them with “spreading false news and disseminating false information via social networks.”

Initially, the Parakou Magistrate’s Court declined jurisdiction over the case. However, the journalists were then taken in handcuffs to the Office Central de Répression de la Cybercriminalité (OCRC), the national anti-cybercrime office, where they were questioned and released. The following day, the same court accepted jurisdiction and conducted an immediate trial, leading to the convictions.

MFWA condemned the ruling as an attack on press freedom and free speech, calling it a disproportionate response to a satirical comment made by a caller on a live show. The case raises further concerns about the shrinking space for independent journalism in Benin.