Cote d'Ivoire: Theophile Kouamouo and Others Freed

The Verdict
Count 1: Theft of an administrative document. NOT GUILTY
Count 2: Resale of stolen documents: NOT GUILTY
Count 3: Releasing information from a legal record not yet made public: GUILTY ($10,000 USD fine and 15-day suspension of Le Nouveau Courrier newspaper)

Kouamouo and others defiant to the end. (C)Twitpic

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Comments

[Eboue]

Wikileaks anybody?

African journalists should create external websites such as http://www.saharareporters.com/ where most materials from Nigerian whistle blowers are published. The site is based abroad and run by Nigerians who are far beyond the reach of the Nigerian government. So when Nigerian newspapers pick up the story they can simply point to SR as their source

[faison]

This blog is located abroad and beyond the reach of Cameroun kakistocrat tentacles.

[SJ]

At least justice was not delayed. They are lucky, Cote d'Ivoire is not la Republique du Cameroun.

[Enone]

They got off because of the massive national and international mobilization of journalists, human rights activists, laywers, etc., similar to the Monga-Njawe trial in 1991. Even eminent Ivorian personalities like Alassane Ouatara called for their immediate release. Journalists will rot and even die in jail i Cameroon because the type of mobilization that we witnessed in the early 90s is no longer possible

[Ma Mary]

Enone has a point. The modus operandi of the Camerounese kleptocracy is to impoverish the people and then beat them down to exhaustion. Crude. Most productive and innovative Southern Cameroonians have moved to the surburbs of Washington DC and other American cities, which now look like Bamenda 2.0 and Buea 2.1. Life there is very tough, however it is predictable and people do not have to sell their honor for the most part.