20100727
africanews

Patrice Pohe, journalist and a communication adviser of Raymond Tchimou, the state prosecutor, was on July 21, 2010 arrested and detained on the orders of his boss for allegedly leaking the report about embezzlement in the cocoa and coffee sector of the country to the privately-owned Le Nouveau Courrier newspaper.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) correspondent in Cote d’Ivoire reported that Pohe’s arrest followed a long grilling session with Allan Alliali, managing editor of privately-owned Le Quotidian newspaper.

The correspondent said the two were interrogated separately before another face-to-face session for nearly for nine hours. Pohe was on July 17, interrogated together with Boni Rosine, secretary to the state prosecutor for about six hours. Pohe was expected to appear in court on July 23.

The Plateau Court in Abidjan, capital of Cote d’Ivoire trying three detained editors of Le Nouveau Courrier, on July 23, adjourned the case to July 26 without reason.

Meanwhile, the Ivorian police have scuttled a picket by the Ivorian Committee for Protection of Journalists (CIPJ) to protest the clamp down on journalists in the country. The police seized a camera and two cellular phones from the journalists and have since returned the equipment to them.