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afrol News, 3 December - Two programmes on private radio station's have been suspended and labelled "defamatory" by the Togoloese authorities. The programmes had been open to listeners to express their views freely - a seldom liberty in Togo's media landscape. In a letter to Prime Minister Agbeyome Kodjo, the French media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) protested the suspension of two of the private radio station Victoire's programmes. The two programmes that were censored, "Revue de presse" and "Vice-Versa", enabled senior newspaper staff and other listeners to express their views on current events. - Their suspension demonstrates that the Togolese authorities still do not tolerate criticism, noted Robert Ménard, the French organisation's secretary-general. "It is an attack on press freedom." RSF recalled that in November 2000, the United Nations' special rapporteur for freedom of opinion and expression stated that public authorities must accept a greater degree of criticism than all other citizens, so as to allow a debate on subjects of public interest. "We ask the Togolese authorities to reconsider their decision and allow this private radio station to continue broadcasting its programmes normally," added Ménard. According to information collected by RSF, the Audio-visual and Communications High Authority (Haute Autorité de l'audiovisuel et de la communication, HAAC, the public body that regulates audio-visual media) has ordered the private radio station Victoire to cease broadcasting the two programmes "Revue de Presse" and "Vice-Versa" until further notice. In a letter dated 29 November 2001, the HAAC explained that it had based its decision on the fact that, "these controversial programmes lead their hosts to make impassioned and defamatory statements that discredit [Togo's] constitutional and administrative authorities." On 28 November, the prime minister had expressed his disapproval to an official from the station concerning a news bulletin that reported on President Gnassingbé Eyadema's visit to France, his relations with French President Jacques Chirac and the human rights situation in Togo. Moreover, RSF recalled that again this year, thousands of copies of private newspapers were seized and confiscated or destroyed by the police. These measures were facilitated by the adoption of a new press code that allows the minister of the interior and security "to order, by means of decree, the seizure of copies of any publication whose content constitutes a violation of the press laws." - The very existence of certain press titles is threatened through these repeated seizures, RSF notes. The situation has become so serious that in April, the Togolese Union of Independent Journalists (Union des journalistes indépendants du Togo, UJIT) urged the HAAC to "fully command its role" as guarantor of freedom of expression. Sources: Based on RSF, and afrol archives
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