Ladji Aboubacar Sanogo and Kangbé Yayoro, two reporters of pro-Ouattara Télévision Notre Patrie (TVNP) in Bouaké being held for alleged terrorist activities were on February 18, 2011 transferred to the Abidjan Civil Prison (MACA).
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s correspondent in Cote d’Ivoire reported that it is not clear when Sanogo and Kangbé’s trial would start as the state prosecutor has not fixed any date for their trial to commence.
The two who are facing a criminal charge of “offence against national security” appeared before the Public Prosecutor’s Department in Plateau.
The correspondent said the two journalists were picked-up at an Airbase in Abidjan on January 18 by the defence and security forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, after arriving in Abidjan in a helicopter belonging to the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (ONUCI).
Sanogo and Kangbé who were to undertake official assignments at the Gulf Hotel, the headquarters of Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized President of the country, were severely tortured when they were arrested.
The correspondent said the charge was as a result of working for TVNP which belongs to the Forces Nouvelles (ex-rebellion) in the north of the country, which waged a rebellion against Gbagbo’s government in the early 2000s.
