The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), together with nine partner organisations across West Africa, has called for the release of journalist and recognised refugee, Hugues Comlan Sossoukpè, who has been held in pre-trial detention for close to 16 months without trial.
As part of the activities marking the 2026 International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists (IDEI), these organisations call on the Beninese authorities to grant Sossoukpè provisional release on humanitarian and medical grounds.
Sossoukpè, founder and Publication Director of the investigative news outlet, Olofofo, was invited by the Ivorian Ministry of Digital Transition to participate in the Ivoire Tech Forum and he traveled to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, in good faith.
However, on the night of July 10, 2025, armed officers surrounded his room at the Palm Beach Hotel.
When Sossoukpè requested to be brought before a judge, his plea was ignored. Instead, he was taken directly to the VIP lounge of Félix Houphouët-Boigny International Airport, forced onto a private chartered aircraft under armed guard, and flown to Cotonou.
By the morning of July 11, 2025, he was handed over to Beninese authorities, read an arrest warrant from the Court for the Repression of Economic Offences and Terrorism (CRIET), and committed to Ouidah Civil Prison.
He was arrested “under sweeping charges: ‘incitement to rebellion’, ‘incitement to hatred and violence’, ‘harassment through electronic communications’, and ‘glorification of terrorism’.”
His case has suffered repeated adjournments before the Court for the Repression of Economic Offences and Terrorism (CRIET) with no efforts to examine the charges against him.
The organisations in the petition stated that Sossoukpè was held in solitary confinement and isolated from human interactions. He also suffers “chronic respiratory ailments and worsening eyes issues; conditions that demand specialised medical care”.
His request for provisional release on the basis of medical grounds was rejected in August 2026, with no trial date being set.
The MFWA and its partners are urging his excellency, H.E. Romuald Wadagni to end the prolonged investigation and grant Sossoukpè presidential pardon owing to his failing health conditions.
They noted that if he cannot be pardoned, he should be subjected to fair trial not under a Kangaroo Court of Justice, but before a competent court.
“Your Excellency, justice is measured by the fairness, compassion, and speed with which it protects the vulnerable. Benin has long stood as a beacon of legal tradition in West Africa; allowing a journalist to languish in pre-trial detention without trial diminishes that proud legacy.
“While fully respecting the independence of the judiciary, we appeal directly to your conscience and your leadership, to facilitate an immediate, humane resolution,” the organisations said.
They also enjoined that his fundamental rights of fair hearing and access to medical care be respected in accordance to International Laws on Human rights adding that judicial processes should not be weaponized to penalize the legitimate practice of investigative journalism or dismantle the protections owed to political refugee.
This petition is part of the MFWA’s ongoing advocacy for press freedom and the respect for the fundamental human rights and rule of law accross West Africa.
