Togo's President, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, has filed three more defamation suits against two privately-owned newspapers. Two of the suits were brought against the weekly L'Indépendant Express. This brings to three the number of cases that President Gnassingbé has launched against L'Indépendant Express since August 18.
The Media Foundation for West Africa's (MFWA) correspondent in Togo reported that these latest suits (of August 30) followed two articles that L'Indépendant Express published on August 3 and 24 accusing the administration of mismanagement and corruption.
The correspondent said President Gnassingbé brought another suit against Liberté newspaper over a August 3 article headlined: "Handling of state affairs in Togo". The article claimed that sex influences the management of the affairs of Togo.
Meanwhile, the earlier case against L'Indépendant Express has been adjourned to September 29.
