Honoré Sitsope, known as Affectio, a Togolese poet and activist, has been arrested once again. His arrest, which took place on April 24, 2026, came after he took pictures of newly constructed drainage canals in the Agoè-Nyivé neighborhood, near where his parents reportedly live. The news was shared four days after his arrest by activist Grace Koumayi in a video posted on the social media platform TikTok.
No official communication regarding the reasons for his custody were publicly made until April 30, 2026, when the political party, l’Alliance Nationale pour le Changement / National Alliance for Change (ANC) released a communiqué regarding its visit to Affectio at the Agoè-Nyivé police station where he was in custody.
According to the media outlet Bénin Web TV, Affectio was first stopped on the spot by officers from the anti-gang unit, headquartered in Djidjolé, immediately after taking photos of the construction site, and he reportedly agreed to delete the images. Shortly after, he was reportedly forced to follow the officers to meet with their superior.
According to a joint statement by the CNCC coalition of civil society organizations and opposition parties, Affectio was physically assaulted during the arrest. Four individuals allegedly strangled him, pinned him to the ground, and forcibly seized his phone and bag, causing physical injuries.
In a statement released by the ANC on April 30, 2026, the initial police custody took a new turn. The statement announced that “the case has evolved following the search of Mr. Affectio’s cell phone, which revealed that the photos on the device do not pertain solely to the construction site where he was arrested. Other photos are also reportedly involved. The investigation is therefore ongoing, and Sokpor Sitsope Affectio remains in custody.”
Affectio is suspected by the police of having sent images of the drainage canals, as well as other images of an unspecified nature, to a group of Togolese activists living abroad, especially the June 6th Civil Society Movement also known as M66. This same group had been accused by Togolese authorities of being behind the chaos that erupted during the June 2025 protests, which resulted in a death toll of at least seven. International arrest warrants had been issued for these diaspora activists, according to the media outlet Le Point.
On May 4, 2026, after spending ten days in police custody, in violation of Togo’s Code of Criminal Procedure which limits police custody to 48 hours, renewable once, Affectio was finally brought before an investigating judge in Lomé. He was placed in pretrial detention pending further proceedings.
This incident is part of a series of battles between Affectio and the Togolese justice system, dating back to his arrest in January 2025 following the publication on Facebook of a poem that the authorities considered to be undermining the internal security of the State.
He subsequently spent nearly eleven months in pretrial detention, with no significant progress in the legal proceedings. This prolonged deprivation of liberty was viewed by several observers as a form of judicial harassment.
It was not until a year later, in January 2026, that Affectio regained his freedom after receiving a presidential clemency granted by the President of the Council of Ministers in December 2025. Affectio had been free since January 2026, but remained under judicial supervision.
This latest arrest raises serious concerns about respect for fundamental freedoms in Togo, particularly freedom of expression, the right to information, and guarantees of a fair trial. The repeated use of lengthy pretrial detention against critical voices or those perceived as dissidents raises concerns about the fate of Affectio, who was released from 11 months of pretrial detention just three months ago.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) strongly condemns the arrest of Affectio as well as any form of judicial harassment targeting civil society actors and human rights defenders, and calls for the unconditional release of Honoré Sitsopé Sokpor.
