Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned the July 28 decision by Niger's public prosecutor to appeal against an investigating judge's decision on July 23 to dismiss the charges on which Radio Saraounia manager Moussa Kaka has been held since September 2007. The authorities would have had to free Kaka if the prosecutor had not filed his appeal.
"The government's determination to keep Kaka in detention despite the judge's decision to drop the case is very unfortunate," RSF said. "Kaka has been held for 10 months for no good reason. It is high time this stopped and he was allowed to be reunited with his family."
The July 28 appeal by the prosecutor was filed several hours after the expiry of the deadline of three working days from when the judge issued his decision dismissing the charges against Kaka on July 23. It was the same judge who, on June 23, ordered Kaka's provisional release, which was also immediately blocked by an appeal by the prosecutor.
The Niger correspondent of Radio France Internationale and RSF, Kaka was arrested in Niamey on September 20, 2007 on a charge of "complicity in a conspiracy against state authority" for talking by phone with one of the leaders of the Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ), a Tuareg rebel group based in the north of the country.
The authorities claim that these contacts were evidence that he was "conniving" with the rebels. The charge carries a possible life sentence.
