In Burkina Faso, the newspaper “l’Evènement” won its legal action against the Higher Council of Communication. On June 19, the CSC had ordered the suspension of the newspaper for a period of one month, after the publication of an article revealing the misappropriation of funds intended for the VDP. But the Administrative Court of Ouagadougou ruled in favor of “l’Evènement” on Thursday and ordered the lifting of the suspension of publication.
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The Higher Council for Communication was even ordered to pay 500,000 FCFA to the newspaper.
Noël Yao, president of UJPLA, the Union of Journalists of the Free African Press, welcomed this decision, contacted by David Bachefrom the Africa editorial team. “This is good news for freedom of the press, for the Burkinabe media, for justice. Because, honestly, it was an arbitrary and absurd decision and therefore this decision had no reason to be. It is not by silencing a newspaper that we solve the problem! There is the mechanism of the right of reply, the right of rectification. So many things that allow a party who considers itself wronged to be able to give its position, its version of the facts. But the essential thing is not in the muzzling of the press or in the closure, the suspension of newspapers. This judicial precedent is a good start and I hope that the Burkinabe justice system continues on this path.”
Read alsoFreedom of expression in Burkina Faso: “Let us not seek to control people’s ideas, thoughts or opinions”
Let us recall that we still have no news from Serge Oulon, publication director of The Event, abducted on June 24 by men claiming to be from the ANR, the Burkinabe National Intelligence Agency. There has also been no news of Kalifara Séré, a columnist on the BF1 channel, who disappeared on June 19, the day after a hearing at the judicial police, or of Adama Bayala, also a columnist for BF1, who has not given any sign of life since June 28.
Read alsoJournalists Kidnapped in Burkina: “A Climate of Fear and Self-Censorship That Endangers Freedom of the Press”