Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2004 - Togo
- Document source:
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Date:
14 April 2005
Defenders of human rights likened to "delinquents"105
The Togolese League for Human Rights (Ligue togolaise des droits de l'Homme – LTDH), its president Mr. Adote Ghandi Akwei, and the FIDH were victims of a smear campaign orchestrated by the government, following the publication of a FIDH report on the situation of human rights in Togo, dated 8 June 2004.106
On 9 June 2004, the Togolese Minister of Communication, Mr. Pitang Tchallah, told AFP that he considered this report to be "outrageous and revolting".
On 11 June, the President of the Parliament, Mr. Fanbaré Outara Natchara, further declared during an interview broadcast by the Togolese radio station Métropolys, that the LTDH and the FIDH had "mistaken and distorted" his words, and concluded "that they were a bunch of dishonest liars" and "delinquents". Mr. Natchara also stated that the FIDH report that condemned the recurring violations of human rights in Togo was "a means of polluting [Togo's] discussions with the European Union (EU)", before accusing the FIDH of "relying on the support of the president of the Togolese League of Human Rights, an association of delinquents".
[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]
105. See Press Release, 16 June 2004.
106. See Report by the FIDH, Togo : l'arbitraire comme norme et 37 ans de dictature, June 2004.
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