After a significant fall in press freedom violations in recent years in Côte d’Ivoire, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is disturbed by the heavy and completely unjustified fines imposed on six journalists in summary proceedings in the past month. They send an alarming signal during the Covid-19 pandemic and ahead of the presidential election at the end of 2020.
In the third of the past month’s three trials targeting independent and opposition journalists, Vamara Coulibaly, the editor of the independent newspaper Soir Info, and Paul Koffi, the editor of the opposition newspaper Nouveau Réveil, were each fined 2.5 million CFA francs (3,810 euros) on 31 March on charges of “publishing false news.”