Ulrich Landry Nguéma Ngokpélé, editor of the newspaper Le Quotidien de Bangui, has been held in custody since 8 May. Six days after his arrest, he was transferred from police custody to the Ngaragba prison in Bangui, where he remains in pre-trial detention. Charged under the penal code, the journalist faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this arbitrary procedure aimed at circumventing the press law and demands his immediate release.
The grounds for the prosecution of the editor of the newspaper Le Quotidien de Bangui are unclear. The judicial authorities have so far failed to provide Ulrich Landry Nguéma Ngokpélé with the motive for his arrest on 8 May and subsequent detention six days later on charges of “inciting hatred against the government” and “disseminating information tending to cause public disorder.” His first public hearing is scheduled for 19 May.
According to the vice-president of the Union of Journalists of the Central African Republic, Jean-Fernand Koena, who is closely following the case and has visited the journalist several times while in police custody, the authorities are retaliating for an article published in Le Quotidien de Bangui on 22 April. It concerned the presence of former president François Bozizé, who is the object of an international arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity, in Bangui, the capital.
According to the journalist's lawyer, Roger Loutomo, the authorities are “seeking to create a qualification that does not fit the purpose.” In other words, the penal code is being abused in order to circumvent the legislation that regulates press offences, which has not provided for custodial sentences since 2004. The public prosecutor, Benoît Narcisse Foukpio, and the Minister of Communication and the Media, Maxime Balalou, have not yet responded to the requests for comment sent by RSF.
"After spending nearly six days in the Gendarmerie's Research and Investigation Section without a known arrest warrant, the Le Quotidien de Bangui editor Ulrich Landry Nguéma Ngokpélé is now locked up without even knowing the exact reason, and on the basis of the penal code, which is much harsher than the press law. Yet everything indicates that he is being held due to his journalism. RSF condemns this attempt to avoid the press law and calls on the judicial authorities to be transparent about this case, which has been opaque from the outset.. Ulrich Landry Nguéma Ngokpélé must be released immediately.
Prior to his detention, Ulrich Landry Nguéma Ngokpélé had been held at the premises of the Central African Gendarmerie's Research and Investigations Section since 8 May. According to his lawyer, his arrest was made “without an arrest warrant or charge.”
Ulrich Landry Nguéma Ngokpélé is a “serious journalist with a particular interest in opinion pieces,” according to a colleague who wishes to remain anonymous. The publication's editor has been harassed on multiple occasions in recent years. In June 2021, the journalist was sued for defamation by Harouna Douamba – an Ivorian businessman close to the Wagner group, and head of a disinformation network operating in the Sahel — after an article published in 2018 alleging that Harouna Douamba had “swindled” government authorities. The charges were eventually dropped. In September 2020, the journalist was forced to leave his home for several weeks due to the risk of reprisals for publishing an article about a senior army officer.
