Chad extends detention of RFI journalist as crackdown continues

After an interrogation at the offices of the criminal investigation department on March 8th, journalist Olivier Monodji’s detention has been extended until at least March 10th, when he will be brought before the public prosecutor of N’djamena, reported RFI.

Monodji, an RFI correspondent and publication director of the newspaper Le Pays, has been detained in Chad since March 5th. Allatha Amos, lawyer for Monodji, has criticised the arrest as baseless.

“The criminal investigation police were unable to tell us what offence my client is accused of. We are therefore waiting impatiently for Monday to find out. It is really absurd that journalists are still being arrested in the 21st century: it is truly from another age!” he stated.

Mahamat Saleh Alhissein, a journalist with the national television station Tele Chad, was also arrested along Monodji.

While it is not immediately clear why Monodji’s was detained, sources indicated to French news agency AFP that it may be connected to an article written in September 2023 about the inauguration of the Russian House in N’Djamena.

Alhissein meanwhile according to Tele Chad is accused of translating documents with information on Russia’s proxy forces and the economic situation in the Sahel.

The Union of Chadian Journalists (UJT) has slammed the detentions as arbitrary, labelled them a “serious attack on the freedom of the press” and called for the unconditional release of both individuals in addition to the return of Monodji’s work equipment.

Widespread condemnation has been levelled at Chad by press freedom advocates following the recent arrests of journalists in the country, which they say is part of a wider crackdown on opposition and dissent as military leader Mahamat Idriss Deby tightens his hold on power.

RFI