Media Foundation for West Africa (Accra)
13 February 2008
press release
Moussa Kaka, correspondent of Radio France International (RFI) and manager of Saraounia FM, a privately owned radio station in Niamey on February 12, 2008 was denied bail by a Criminal Court of Appeal.
Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)'s correspondent reported that the decision of the court followed a request for the journalist's release by his counsel, Moussa Coulibaly.
The court also ruled that another investigative judge should be appointed to continue with the case.
Kaka was arrested on September 20, 2007 for alleged "involvement in a plot against the state's authority" and has since been on detention.
In February, 2007, the Nigerien authorities claimed to have intercepted a telephone conversation between Kaka and Aghali Alambo, the head of the Niger People's Movement for Justice (MNJ), a movement that has waged an armed rebellion in northern Niger.
A Niamey magistrate on November 13, 2007 ruled that "the obtaining of the tapes containing the journalist's conversations and their transcriptions are not acceptable in law and constitute a violation of the rights of the accused." The prosecutor appealed against the ruling.
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