Journalist René Capain Bassène was released on Wednesday, 27th May, around 4pm, PressAfrik learned from his family. He received a presidential pardon, thus ending several years of detention in connection with the Boffa Bayotte massacre.
Arrested eight days after the tragedy that occurred in January 2018 in Casamance, René Capain Bassène was sentenced in June 2022 to life imprisonment for “complicity in murder, attempted murder, and criminal conspiracy”.
Since the beginning of the legal proceedings, the journalist had consistently denied the accusations against him, maintaining that he had no connection to the attack that claimed the lives of several people in the Boffa Bayotte forest.
His conviction had sparked numerous reactions in public opinion, particularly within the media and human rights communities, who had repeatedly called for a review of his trial.
PressAfrik
