Chad: French journalists charged with abduction along with members of charity

Two French photojournalists have been formally charged in the eastern Chadian city of Abéché with “kidnapping minors” and “fraud” along with members of Arche de Zoé (Zoé’s Ark), the French charity whose activities they were covering. The two journalists are Marc Garmirian of the Capa news agency and Jean-Daniel Guillou of the Synchro X agency.

Another French journalist, Marie-Agnès Peleran of the France 3 Méditerranée TV station who was in Chad in a personal capacity although she was filming Arche de Zoé’s operation with a camera borrowed from her TV station, was also charged along with the other members of the group arrested in Abéché on October 25.

“Despite all the evidence, the Chadian authorities have obstinately prolonged the injustice inflicted on Garmirian and Guillou,” Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “The authorities still have not listened to us, although it is clear the journalists should not be lumped with the charity’s members. So, until they are released, we must mobilise and keep repeating that journalists are neutral and can in no way be regarded as participants in any crime that may have taken place.”

RSF intends to travel at once to Chad to plead the cause of the detained journalists with the authorities in capital N’Djamena.

Garmirian and Guillou were charged October 29 evening by an Abéché judge along with seven other French citizens - six members of Arche de Zoé and Peleran - with “fraud” and “abduction of minors tending to compromise their civil status.” The charges were brought at the request of the city’s prosecutor. The seven Spanish crew members of a plane chartered by Arche de Zoé were charged with complicity.

Garmirian’s Chadian lawyer, Jean-Daniel Daniel Padaré, told RSF the 16 Europeans would be transferred soon to N’Djamena to be held in pre-trial detention. Asked why they were being moved to the capital, Padaré said it could be for “security reasons,” because the authorities feared the possibility of reprisals against the detainees by the population in Abéché.

The case involves a French group called Zoe's Ark, which has told the press it wanted to help the children, not abduct them. Members of the group were attempting to fly with 103 children from Chad to France where the children were supposed to live with host families. The French government has condemned the operation and its ambassador has said those involved would face the Chadian justice system. Garmirian and Guillou were arrested by Chadian soldiers at Abéché airport on October 25.

“Regardless of the merits of the kidnapping case against the members of the group that planned to transport the children, the journalists documenting it should not be considered accomplices,” said International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) General Secretary Aidan White. “They are only observers and should be released immediately and all charges against them should be dropped.”

IFJ and French affiliates SNJ and SNJ-CGT say that journalists covering this event are protected under international law and should not be subject to official action. “It’s a grave mistake to confuse the work of journalists with that of their subjects,” said White. “We urge the authorities in Chad to clear the journalists who were with Zoe’s Ark for professional reasons of any charges and to release them immediately.”