Togo: Rights Group Calls for Release of Two French Journalists Held in Togo

What the report says

Reporters Without Borders is calling for the release of two French journalists detained in Togo after authorities placed them in pre-trial detention and charged them with “false statements,” according to the RFI report distributed by AllAfrica. Gaël Mocaër and Sebastian Perez Pezzani were arrested on 27 July together with their Togolese fixer, Fred Venum, while filming near Kara in northern Togo for a travel documentary series intended for French public broadcaster France 5.

The article says the three men were first held under house arrest before being transferred to a military detention facility near Lomé on 17 August. RSF says the journalists had entered Togo with work visas and a filming permit from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Arts, and that their production company had also declared equipment to customs. A representative of the production company said the team had the necessary authorisations.

Togolese regulators, however, said they had not received an accreditation request and were not informed of the team’s arrival or filming plans. The case comes against a backdrop of tight security in northern Togo, where a state of emergency remains in place because of militant violence linked to the wider Sahel region. France’s foreign ministry said the journalists are under judicial investigation and have received consular visits.

The report also notes broader strain between French media and Togolese authorities, including the suspension of RFI and France 24 in June 2025. RSF and the journalists’ families have raised concern about one detainee’s health, though the article does not provide medical details.