LOM脡, Togo (AP) 鈥� Two French documentary filmmakers and their Togolese fixer have been jailed in Togo after more than three weeks in custody in , an advocacy group said Thursday, amid strained relations between the government and French media.
Reporters Without Borders said that filmmakers Ga毛l Moca毛r and Sebastian Perez Pezzani and fixer Fred Vedomey were placed in pretrial detention Monday and charged with making 鈥渇alse declarations鈥� in immigration procedures.
The Paris-based media freedom group, known by its French acronym RSF, called for their immediate release.
Moca毛r and Perez Pezzani were filming an episode of a documentary series for a French public television network when police arrested the three on July 27 in Kara, northern Togo, RSF said.
Northern Togo has been plagued in recent years by attacks from armed groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.
The detentions come as Togo has moved closer to Russia and to Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, three military-led countries that have expelled or sidelined French forces and strengthened relations with Moscow.
Russia and Togo signed a military cooperation agreement last year providing for joint exercises and military training.
Togo has also restricted French media. In June 2025, authorities Radio France Internationale and France 24 for three months, accusing them of inaccurate and biased reporting during their coverage of .
RSF said that the filmmakers charged on Monday had applied for work visas and received authorization from Togo鈥檚 Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Arts.
Culture Minister Isaac Tchiakp茅 rejected RSF鈥檚 assertion that the filmmakers had received authorization from his ministry to carry out the documentary shoot.
鈥淭hey would not have been detained if they had had the proper authorizations and followed the required procedures,鈥� Tchiakp茅 told The Associated Press.
Togo鈥檚 media regulator, the HARC, said it had received no accreditation request from the filmmakers or France T茅l茅visions, and hadn’t been informed of their filming in northern Togo.
RSF said that police seized the crew鈥檚 equipment and detained the three, briefly releasing them July 30 before rearresting them and transferring them to the capital, Lom茅.
RSF called the proceedings 鈥渦njustified鈥� and 鈥渄isproportionate,鈥� and said that Perez Pezzani has serious health problems requiring immediate medical attention.
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