The Guinean police detain and interrogate journalist Mamadou Sagnane

Guinean journalist Mamadou Sagnane

Mamadou Sagnane, a reporter with the community broadcaster Dinguiraye Rural Radio, was summoned by police in the north-central town of Dinguiraye on June 15.

The police questioned Sagnane at the Dinguiraye Court of First Instance, confiscated his phone, and refused to let him contact anyone while they questioned him about a broadcast he aired on June 8. Approximately six hours later, authorities released Sagnane and told him to return home, saying they would contact him if he was needed.

According to Sagnane, he read a press release calling for a rally over the recent killing of a young man at a gendarmerie roadblock in the broadcast. Police asked Sagnane why he read the press release, and Sagnane replied that a local association had sent it to the director of Dinguiraye Rural Radio, who discovered that it contained no threats of violence and asked him to read it on-air.

He advised the officers to contact the station's director for further information.

The rally referred to in the press release was not held on June 9, but protesters angry over the killing attacked a local gendarmerie office and a police station, according to Sagnane and media reports. Police have alleged that Sagnane is to blame for these attacks even though the press release did not call for such actions.

A Dinguiraye government representative, Karamoko Oumar Boké Camara, told CPJ through messaging that he was unable to comment on the case given that he did not have permission from his superiors. The CPJ contacted the Guinean judicial police via messaging app for comment but did not receive a response.