Côte d'Ivoire: Call to revive investigation into journalist’s disappearance 12 years ago

Organisation:

RSF_en

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has sent an open letter to French Prime Minister Manuel Valls about Guy-André Kieffer, a journalist with French and Canadian dual nationality, who disappeared in Côte d’Ivoire 12 years ago.

The letter asks Valls, who will visit Côte d’Ivoire on 30 October, to press for concrete judicial action by the Ivorian authorities in response to the requests sent by the French judicial officials who are investigating the case., that have remained unanswered.

Paris, 27 October 2016

Dear Prime Minister,

Twelve years have passed since Guy-André Kieffer, a journalist with French and Canadian dual nationality, disappeared in Abidjan on 16 April 2004. Côte d’Ivoire and France have repeatedly expressed their common determination to ensure that justice prevails in this matter. Nonetheless, there has been no response in Côte d’Ivoire to the requests for judicial measures by the French judges investigating the case.

Time is passing and memories are fading. One of the key witnesses, Michel Legré, whose testimony could have helped to advance the case, has died.

During a visit to Côte d’Ivoire on 17 July 2014, French President François Hollande said that his Ivorian counterpart, President Ouattara, was “doing all he can to ensure that the judicial system cooperates” with the French judicial system to “establish the truth” and “find those who committed these acts.” Two weeks before that, on 3 July 2014, Ivorian justice minister Gnénéma Coulibaly said the case would “reach its conclusion.”

But will this happen before all the witnesses have died? Will light ever be shed on this case?

We ask you to do everything you can, during your visit, to ensure that the investigation is revived and that the actions requested by the French judges are carried out.

We hope that, as a result of the good relations between France and Côte d’Ivoire, Guy-André Kieffer’s disappearance will no longer be what then Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo called a “detail” in 2008 and that it will continue to be, as in 2014, a priority for the French government.

I thank you in advance for your attention to this request.

Sincerely,