- Organisation: Dja FM
- Case: Arrest
- Culprit: police officer
- Country: Chad
- City: Mongo
Police arrested Achène, a reporter with the privately owned Dja FM radio station, in Mongo, the capital of Chad’s south-central Guéra region, on December 26, 2019, according to a press release posted on Facebook by his employer and a report by French broadcaster Radio France Internationale. Achène arrived at the local gendarmerie office in Mongo in response to a summons from the judicial police; when he arrived, police arrested him for alleged defamation and contempt of court, according to that press release. When they arrested him, authorities showed Achène a copy of a Facebook post he published on his personal account, according to the press release and a Dja FM manager who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. A police officer said that authorities disapproved of what Achène broadcast on Dja FM, but did not have proof of his statements until they saw his Facebook post, the manager said. CPJ reviewed a copy of that post, which alleged corruption in the Mongo legal system. Achène occasionally posted commentary on local politics on his Facebook page, which CPJ reviewed.