President pardons journalist jailed for murders

The Committee to Protect Journalists has hailed the release of Senegalese journalist René Capain Bassène, incarcerated since 2018 over allegations of complicity in the murder and attempted murder of 14 illegal loggers who died at the Bayottes forest in Casamance. The victims were killed in January 2018, and the journalist was subsequently arrested for their murders, reports the Peoples Gazette Nigeria. CPJ said Senegalese President Diomaye Faye decided to release Bassène after more than eight years of unjust detention. Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa representative, said: ‘The Senegalese President has sought to correct a grave miscarriage of justice against a journalist who has devoted his entire career to the resolution of the separatist conflict in Casamance.’ Bassène was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, but on Wednesday, Faye granted him a pardon. CPJ and other human rights organisations had prevailed on the President to release Bassène, insisting that available evidence showed the journalist could not have committed the crimes. CPJ obtained the accounts of other co-defendants who claimed they were tortured to bear false witness against Bassène. Their testimonies corroborated with Bassène’s account to CPJ that he was electrocuted on his genitals to compel his confession to an offence he did not commit.