Togo‘s government commented Saturday for the first time on the case of the two French film-makers and their Togolese colleague, who were arrested at the end of July in the west African country and have been in custody ever since.
The three men – Gaël Mocaër, Sebastian Perez Pezzani and Fred Vedomey – are being held on charges of making “false declarations”. Their lawyer said they deny the charges.
The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called again for their immediate release.
Togo’s justice and security ministries said in a joint statement Saturday that the documentary team, arrested July 27, had used a drone in areas authorities regard as sensitive because of the threat of jihadist attacks in them.
The statement said that the authorisation to film had been signed only by the fixer, Vedomey, and not by the Frenchmen, and was “strictly limited” to specific, stated areas.
It also claimed “several irregularities” in the way the assignment was carried out, without elaborating.
Read moreReporters Without Borders calls for ‘immediate release’ of two French filmmakers held in Togo
The statement said the three men appeared before prosecutors on August 17, with their lawyer.
Their lawyer, Martial Akakpo, told AFP that his clients denied the charges against them.
Mocaer and Pezzani, with their fixer Vedomey, were making a documentary for France Televisions.
RSF said Pezzani suffers from serious health problems, requiring urgent treatment.
A Togolese doctor had warned he was at risk of developing sepsis, according to Patrice Lucchini, head of their company Tony Comiti Productions.
Lucchini had said the filmmakers had fully complied with the rules on working in the west African country, adding that the pair had obtained filming permits and declared their equipment to customs.
The families of the two Frenchmen, Gaël Mocaër and Sébastian Perez-Pezzani, were quoted in an RSF statement saying they were “devastated” by the men’s incarceration.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
