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Eric Topona

On 3 May 2013, World Press Freedom Day, radio journalist and human rights defender Eric Topona said media freedom was beginning to become a reality in Chad. But, three days later, he was arrested in a roundup of journalists and government opponents and spent more than 100 days in prison awaiting trial. The conditions in the prison were “atrocious,” he reported afterwards. He finally got a three-year suspended jail sentencefor “threatening constitutional order” and initially resumed his journalistic work on his release. But, in December 2013, he realized he could no longer continue working as a journalist under President Idriss Débyand moved to the German city of Bonn, where has resumed his professional relationship with Deutsche Welle.

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