Notre Voie: Difference between revisions
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==References== |
==References== |
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==External links== |
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*[http://www.notrevoie.com/ ''Notre Voie'' homepage] |
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[[Category:Ivorian newspapers]] |
[[Category:Ivorian newspapers]] |
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Revision as of 21:03, 27 January 2012
Notre Voie (formerly known as La Voie is an Ivorian newspaper. Its reporters have been the subject of several high-profile criminal trials, and its editor Freedom Neruda was named one of the International Press Institute's "50 World Press Freedom Heroes" of the past 50 years for his work with the paper.
Beginning of Neruda's editorship
After an unsuccessful attempt to start his own independent newspaper, La Chronique du Soir, Neruda agreed to take over La Voie in 1991. With Neruda as its editor-in-chief, La Voie quickly went on to become the best-selling independent newspaper in Côte d’Ivoire.[1] The paper regularly ran critical coverage of the government of Ivorian President Henri Konan Bédié, resulting in several court appearances on defamation charges.[2] In 1995, the paper's offices were firebombed, but no one was hurt.[3]
"Il maudit l'ASEC" trial
On 18 December 1995, La Voie ran an article on the Ivorian ASEC Mimosas's loss to the South African Orlando Pirates in the finals of football's CAF Champions League. A sidebar by reporter Emmanuel Koré, headlined "Il maudit l’ASEC" ("He cursed/jinxed ASEC"), jokingly suggested that the bad luck of President Bédié's presence had caused the team's defeat; the article also played on the slogans from Bédié's re-election literature of the previous year, in which he promised to bring "good luck" to the nation.[2] Although the sidebar was one of the less serious criticisms of the Bédié government that had appeared in La Voie,[2] by naming the president explicitly, it posed a direct challenge to a 1991 statute allowing the state to prosecute "people who insult government officials or offices" for criminal libel.[4]
Koré and La Voie's publication director Abou Drahamane Sangar were arrested shortly after the article's appearance. A warrant was also issued for Neruda, who evaded arrest for several days to arrange care for his ten-year-old son. On 2 January 1996, Neruda turned himself in at a police station and was also arrested.[5] On 11 January, Neruda, Koré and Sangar were convicted of "offenses against the head of state" and sentenced to two years' imprisonment apiece.[2] Additionally, La Voie was fined three million West African CFA franc (about $6000 USD) and banned from publishing for three months; the paper avoided the ban by publishing under the name L'alternative for the duration of the sentence, returning to its original name when the ban was complete.[2]
During his imprisonment, Neruda continued to write news stories from jail, smuggling them out and publishing them in L'alternative under the apparently female pen name "Bintou Diawara". His topics included a financial scandal and the more lenient sentences given to wealthy Lebanese prisoners.[5] When the three journalists appealed their sentences to the Supreme Court in August, President Bédié appeared on television offering them a pardon if they would withdraw the appeal. Feeling that this would be a tacit admission of guilt, the journalists refused the offer.[1] The Supreme Court rejected their appeal in November, but the three were nonetheless released on 1 January 1997, having served only half of their sentences.[2]
References
- ^ a b "Freedom Neruda". Committee to Protect Journalists. 1997. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f W. Joseph Campbell. "Freedom Neruda: Struggles for Press Freedom in West Africa". Freedom Forum. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
- ^ "Costa d'Avorio: Freedom Neruda". Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
- ^ "World Press Freedom Heroes". International Press Institute. 2000. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
- ^ a b Collings, Anthony (2001). Words of fire: independent journalists who challenge dictators, druglords, and other enemies of a free press. NYU Press. pp. 124–5. ISBN 0814716059. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
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