In a letter to the Justice minister in charge of the promotion of democracy and the rule of law, General Seyi Memene, Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF - Reporters Without Borders) protested against the eighteen month prison sentence of Lucien Messan, editorial director of the weekly Le Combat du peuple. RSF asked the minister to refer the matter to the competent authorities in order to acquit the journalist on appeal.

"With this sentence, the Togolese courts are silencing an independent journalist and thus threatening all members of the private press in the country" stated Robert Menard, the organisation's secretary general. "Once more, Togolese authorities want to muzzle the independent press by jailing one of its most known and respected representatives," added the secretary general. Finally, RSF notes that thirty-four local journalists have been arrested in ten years. Close to ten of them have been sentenced to several months in jail.

According to information gathered by RSF, Lucien Messan was sentenced on 5 June 2001 to eighteen months in jail with a remission of sentence of six months for "falsehood and the use of falsehood", by the Fourth Criminal Chamber of the Court of First Instance of Lome. When the court announced the sentence the defence lawyers said they were "deceived and frustrated". They are going to make an appeal in the next few days.

On 23 May, Lucien Messan presented himself to the police in response to a summons. He was informed that a complaint had been lodged against him for "falsehood and the use of falsehood" by the Interior Minister, and the journalist was immediately transferred to Lome civil prison. He was charged with having affixed his signature at the bottom of a communique from the Togolese Private Press Publishers Association (Association togolaise des editeurs de la presse privee - ATEPP). In fact, the publication director of "Le Combat du Peuple" is his son, Messan S. Junior. It is the latter who is authorised to sign the ATEPP's documents. The communique denounced statements by the Togolose prime minister, according to whom "publication directors were unanimous in affirming that there have never been hundreds of deaths in Togo." The ATEPP accused the government of "seeking to use the private press."

In August 2000, Lucien Messan lodged a complaint against the Interior Minister for "abuse of power," following repeated seizures of copies of Le Combat du peuple by the police.

Lucien Messan, 55 years of age, is the most senior figure in the Togolese private press. He is known to be one of the most severe critics of Gnassingbe Eyadema's regime. He was detained in September 1998 and accused of "spreading false news."

Reporters Sans Frontieres defends jailed journalists and press freedom throughout the world, that is, the right to inform and be informed, in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Reporters Sans Frontieres has nine branches (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom), representatives in Abidjan, Bangkok, Tokyo, Montreal and Washington, and about a hundred correspondents worldwide.