The Norbert Zongo Unit for Investigative Journalism in West Africa, CENOZO has called on the Nigerien government and justice system to drop the charges against investigative journalist Moussa Aksar, and release him unconditionally.
Moussa Aksar is the Founder and Director of the newspaper “L’Evènement”. He was, on 7 May 2021, fined 200,000 CFA francs and 1,000,000 CFA francs in damages for doing his job as a journalist.
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The Next Edition recalls that Moussa Aksar is being prosecuted for mentioning the name of a person close to the ruling regime in an investigation into financial misappropriations in the Nigerien Ministry of National Defence.
Entitled “FinCEN Files – Embezzlement at Niger’s Ministry of Defence: 71.8 billion CFA francs captured by forgery lords”, the investigation is based on suspicious activity reports from the US Treasury Intelligence Unit and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
The investigation showed how senior Nigerien military officials and those close to the government were involved in the diversion of funds intended for the acquisition of military equipment, while Niger was facing terrorist attacks.
In February 2020, an audit report commissioned by the Nigerien state itself revealed that 48 billion CFA francs had been overcharged in orders for military equipment to the Ministry of Defence, and 28 billion CFA francs worth of military equipment had not been delivered when the contractual deadline had passed.
In November 2021, to everyone’s surprise, the State of Niger abandoned the prosecution of those implicated in these misappropriations and opted for an amicable settlement.
As the appeal for defamation of investigative journalist Moussa Aksar opend in Niamey, today, Monday 14 March 2022, CENOZO has urged the Nigerien justice system to guarantee and preserve the freedom to inform by simply releasing Moussa Aksar.
“CENOZO calls on the Nigerien justice system to unconditionally drop the charges against investigative journalist Moussa Aksar, whose probity and ethics are known throughout the world.”
A statement issued by the organisation in Ouagadougou said Moussa Aksar is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of CENOZO and a member of several international organisations of investigative journalists including the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) based in Washington DC, USA. In 2021, he was prosecuted twice for doing his job as a journalist.
