Togo: Two French Filmmakers Arrested and Detained Since July 27

Two French filmmakers, working for a French production company, were arrested in Togo on July 27 and are currently under judicial investigation, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Tuesday evening.

The Quai d'Orsay indicated that the filmmakers are subject to an investigation led by an examining magistrate. The ministry stated that consular officials have visited them three times to date. "The ministry's services, in Paris and Lomé, are fully mobilized to ensure their detention conditions, their health status, and the respect of their defense rights," the Quai d'Orsay specified. The embassy and the Bureau for the Protection of Detainees in Paris are also in constant contact with their lawyer, employer, and families.

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They are currently the subject of a judicial investigation conducted by an examining magistrate.

Local media reports identify the detained individuals as two journalist-filmmakers whose production was intended for broadcast on France Télévisions. Togo, a small West African coastal nation led by Faure Gnassingbé since 2005, has been grappling with security challenges. Since late 2021, the far north of the country has faced incursions from jihadists operating from neighboring Burkina Faso. The government declared a state of emergency in a northern region in 2022 and has extended it multiple times.

This incident follows a pattern of media restrictions in Togo. In June 2025, Radio France Internationale and France 24 were banned from broadcasting for three months, accused of relaying "inaccurate and tendentious remarks" after protests critical of the government. These French media outlets have reportedly still not resumed broadcasting. In April, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot advocated for the lifting of their suspension during a visit to Togo, the first high-level official French visit in a decade. Togo ranks 97th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' annual press freedom index, with the organization noting that while the country has numerous media outlets, journalists' independence is contingent on the political context.

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The ministry's services, in Paris and Lomé, are fully mobilized to ensure their detention conditions, their health status, and the respect of their defense rights.