Editor released from prison after paying fine

Reporters Without Borders is relieved to learn that Jean-Bosco Talla, the editor of the privately-owned weekly Germinal, was released from Yaoundé’s Kondengui prison on 13 January after paying the fine imposed by a court on 28 December on a charge of insulting the president. Talla, who described himself as “calm,” told Agence France-Presse that Germinal would continue to be published “without any change to its editorial line.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 29.12.2009 - Court stops short of jailing newspaper publisher A Yaoundé court yesterday sentenced newspaper publisher Jean-Bosco Talla to a suspended one-year jail term, three years of probation, a fine of 3 million CFA francs (4,500 euros) and court costs of 154,000 CFA francs (234 euros) on a charge of insulting the president. Talla, who has been detained since 10 December, was taken back to Yaoundé’s Kondengui prison after yesterday’s hearing pending payment of the fine and costs. His lawyer, Jean-Marie Nouga, said he intended to appeal. “The sentence is a relief inasmuch as Talla will not have to spend months in prison but he will have to live with a permanent threat that will force him to censor himself,” said Reporters Without Borders, which urges the Cameroonian authorities to fully decriminalise press offenses. “We hope that payment of the fine will allow him to be freed without delay.” For more information about the Talla case, read the previous release . --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17.12.2009 - Newspaper publisher held for past week on charge of insulting president Reporters Without Borders correspondent Jules Koum Koum managed to visit newspaper publisher Jean-Bosco Talla in Yaoundé’s Kondengui prison today. Arrested a week ago, Talla was brought before a court in Mfoundi yesterday and pleaded not guilty to a charge of insulting President Paul Biya. “I just published passages from a book,” he told Reporters Without Borders. “I don’t see what crime I committed and I am therefore not worried.” Talla is due to appear in court again on 21 December. “We once again remind the Cameroonian authorities that there are never grounds for arresting a journalist in a defamation case,” Reporters Without Borders said, calling for Talla’s immediate release. The publisher of the privately-owned weekly Germinal, Talla was arrested on 10 December and was taken to the State Secretariat for Defence (SED), a police unit tasked with combating organised crime. After being held there for four days, he was transferred on the evening of 14 December to Kondengui prison and was taken before the state prosecutor the next day. Talla was arrested for publishing passages from Ebale Angounou’s book “Blood for Blood” in issue No. 46 of Germinal. Banned by the Cameroonian authorities as libellous in 2001, the book claims that, before becoming president, Biya pledged fealty to his predecessor, Ahmadou Ahidjo, in a secret pact that was sealed by “a homosexual act.” A particularly combative journalist, Talla has been targeted by the authorities in the past. In July he reported receiving anonymous death threats a few days after the publication of a report by the Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development (CCFD) about personal assets allegedly acquired by President Biya with public funds. Talla had helped to prepare the report. Another journalist is currently detained in Cameroon. It is Lewis Medjo, the publisher of the weekly La Détente Libre, who has been imprisoned in the southwestern city of Douala since 26 September 2008 for publishing a report about an alleged ploy by President Biya to get the supreme court president to retire early. A court sentenced him on 7 January to three years in prison and a fine of 2 million CFA francs (about 3,000 euros) on a charge of “disseminating false news.” The government continues to keep articles in the criminal code that punish press offences harshly. If a newspaper article is deemed to be libellous, sentences of up to several years in prison can be passed on its author or the newspaper’s publisher.