Summoned to the Criminal Brigade on Tuesday 20 December, journalist Virgile Ahouansè was placed in custody in the premises of the said brigade. The Director of Information of the online radio Cristal-News reportedly published false information.
He was arrested on Monday 19 December, a few days after the publication of an investigation in which he referred to a case of summary execution, implicating the Republican police. The journalistic production is entitled “Panic in Porto-Novo: the Republican Police carries out summary executions in a school”. It was published on 14 December 2022 by the journalist and caused a storm of reaction on social networks.
“We are discouraged because Virgile Ahouansè, whom we all know, has been placed in police custody for having disseminated information on what happened at EPP Dowa,” said Barnabé Gbago, a member of the college of five lawyers of the journalist. In addition, the lawyer is also told that this situation does not deserve a police custody. “The questions asked and the answers given, in our opinion, are not worth keeping in custody. We followed him from the beginning to the end. He justified himself, he showed that everything he said was true. It is sad that a journalist who has a press card should be taken into custody,” he regretted.
According to Barnabé Gbago, Virgile Ahouansè is not the first to publish information on these alleged summary executions by the Beninese Republican Police. “The Benin Human Rights Commission, the newspaper “La Flamme”, all these organisations have denounced what he himself denounced, and yet, all the others are free and Virgil has been taken into custody”, he denounced.
However, the case of Virgile Ahouansè is likely to be a little more complicated, as the witnesses whose statements he relayed have changed their version. Indeed, two of the witnesses, namely the guard of the Epp Dowa where the executions were said to have taken place and the Head of the neighbourhood, were also arrested a few days after the information was broadcast. While in custody, they all went back on their word, according to lawyer Barnabé Gbago. This makes things much more complicated for the journalist who risks being referred to the Criet (Court of Repression of Economic Offences and Terrorism).
