Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced on Wednesday the “brutal and arbitrary” expulsion of a French journalist from Togo, known for his criticism of the government, while he was covering political tensions linked to the adoption of a new Constitution.
RSF strongly condemns the brutal and arbitrary treatment inflicted on the reporter Thomas Dietrich, who works for the online magazine Afrique XXI, the organization said in a statement.
Shortly after his arrival in Lomé on Saturday, the journalist, known for his critical positions towards the country’s authorities, published a video on X in which he described the regime of Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé as a “dictatorship”, which would strengthen his power with adoption of a new Constitution.
This text would move Togo from a presidential regime to a parliamentary regime; it is rejected by the opposition who see it as a way for Faure Gnassingbé to remain at the head of the country for as long as possible. Thomas Dietrich “was arrested and brutalized by police officers before being sentenced the next day to a six-month suspended prison sentence and expelled (Tuesday) from the territory”, denounces RSF.
The journalist told AFP that he had been “hit, stripped and insulted” by police officers, after an interview with the president of the High Authority for Audiovisual and Communication (HAAC).
After 24 hours of detention, he said he was tried by a court in Lomé and sentenced to 6 months suspended prison sentence, 5 years of ban on staying in Togo, and a fine of 600,000 FCFA (approximately 916 euros), before be expelled to Benin by road.
According to RSF, the authorities accuse him of “deliberate maneuvers tending to mask his real profession”, and of having “taken illegal routes and without any formality” to enter Togo while, according to this NGO, the journalist had clarified his profession when applying for a visa as well as upon arrival. Thomas Dietrich was once expelled from an African country. In January, he had to leave Guinea while investigating the National Petroleum Company (SONAP).
RSF also condemns the temporary suspension of all accreditations for the foreign press announced by the HAAC on Monday, a few days before the legislative and regional elections scheduled for April 29. The HAAC justifies this decision by “problems linked to special envoy Thomas Dietrich (…) in the context of issuing accreditations”, and “serious shortcomings noted in the coverage of political news on Togo by RFI and France 24 recently.
