Nearly a month after the arrest of two French documentary filmmakers working in northern Togo, new questions are emerging over the arbitrary detention of the journalists, who hold all valid work credentials but still face criminal charges in a case that has reignited international scrutiny of press freedom restrictions in the West African nation.
According to global media rights organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Gaël Mocaër and Sebastian Perez Pezzani were taken into custody on July 27 while filming a documentary project for France Télévisions in the northern Togolese city of Kara. Despite holding legally issued work visas and official filming authorization, the pair have now been formally charged with “false declarations,” a charge RSF calls completely unsubstantiated.
A third individual, Fred Vedomey, the journalists’ local Togolese fixer, has also been detained alongside the two French citizens. As of the latest update, all three are being held in pre-trial detention at a law enforcement facility near Lomé, Togo’s capital. RSF has also raised urgent alarms over Pezzani’s well-being, confirming he is currently experiencing severe health complications that require immediate access to specialized medical care.
The production company behind the documentary, Tony Comiti Productions, has issued a formal statement affirming that Mocaër and Pezzani fully complied with all existing Togolese administrative regulations for foreign journalists working in the country. The company emphasized that the two men are seasoned, veteran documentary professionals with decades of experience reporting across the globe, and that their work in Togo had no political agenda, focused solely on documenting the daily experiences of local communities.
France’s foreign ministry has confirmed the detention of its two nationals, but has not released any additional details on the case. Togolese government officials have so far declined to issue any public comment on the arrest or the charges against the three detained individuals.
While official explanations for the detention remain undisclosed, independent and local reporting has put forward a controversial hypothesis: the two French journalists are being held as political leverage to push France into extraditing Ferdinand Ayité, a Togolese investigative journalist who has lived in exile in France since 2021. Ayité was arrested in Togo four years ago over online comments that drew criticism from sitting government ministers, before eventually fleeing the country. Neither French nor Togolese authorities have publicly confirmed or denied this speculation.
This case is the latest in a growing pattern of restricting press freedom in Togo, which already holds a low rank of 97th out of 180 countries on RSF’s annual World Press Freedom Index. Just earlier this year in June 2025, two major French broadcasters — France 24 and Radio France Internationale (RFI) — were suspended from operating in Togo for a three-month period, after Togolese authorities accused them of spreading “inaccurate and biased” coverage of anti-government protests. Both outlets strongly rejected all accusations of improper reporting. In 2024, another French journalist, Thomas Dietrich, was arrested while covering national electoral campaigning in the country and subsequently expelled, per records from the International Press Institute.
Thibaut Bruttin, RSF’s Director General, said the organization remains deeply alarmed that the unjust detention has stretched on for more than 20 days. “The organization condemns these unjustified and disproportionate proceedings and calls for the immediate release of the French media professionals,” Bruttin said.
Family members of the two detained French journalists have also released a joint statement, shared via RSF, expressing their ongoing distress over the prolonged uncertainty. “We are devastated by the deprivation of liberty being endured in Togo by our partners, our fathers, our sons and our brothers,” the statement read. The families added that daily uncertainty and anguish have weighed heavily on them since the arrest, and they are holding out hope for a swift resolution to the case. They also emphasized that Mocaër and Pezzani are passionate storytellers dedicated to centering the voices and lived realities of the people they meet in their reporting.