On 19 May, the Cotonou Court of Appeal reduced the sentence against investigative journalist, Ignace Sossou, to 12 months in prison, including six months suspended. He was first sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined for “harassment” on 24 December 2019 for tweets quoting the Public Prosecutor during a conference hosted by the French media development agency CFI. He is due to be released on 24 June. Ignace Sossou is being arbitrarily detained and must be immediately and unconditionally released.