Washington——

French journalist Antoine Galindo, who was detained for a week in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, was released on Thursday and is expected to appear in court for a second time on Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said.

Angela Quintal, the Africa program director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, told VOA that Galindo, a reporter for the Paris-based news website Africa Intelligence, traveled to France immediately after his release.

“Unfortunately, the local politician he was interviewing when he was arrested remains in jail and will appear in court today,” Quintal said.

Galindo was arrested on February 22 while interviewing Bate Urgessa, a political official of the opposition Oromo Liberation Front, and both were accused of “conspiracy to cause chaos.”

Two days later, Galindo was brought before a judge, who gave police a week to investigate “to search the reporter’s cell phone and arrest other ‘suspects’ of ‘complicit’.”

Police told the court that Galindo had been released on bail and asked for five more days to be investigated, sources who attended Friday’s hearing and asked not to be identified out of fear for their safety told VOA.

However, Quintal said “if he was released on bail, he would not be allowed to leave the country,” adding that France’s diplomatic efforts could help Galindo be released early.

“His unjust detention is a stark reminder of the dangers of practicing journalism in Ethiopia today,” CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Mutoki Mumo said in a statement.

“The Ethiopian authorities must now release all journalists – at least eight others – who have been imprisoned for months under very difficult conditions for months,” Mumo said, adding that the government should also allow international journalists to report without fear of reprisal. .

Quintal stressed that Galindo’s arrest showed that there is no press freedom in Ethiopia under the current government. He tried to use the momentum of Galindo’s release to draw international attention and advocate for the release of all Ethiopian journalists in prison.

“You can’t have one standard for foreign journalists and another standard for local journalists,” Quintal said. “The vast majority of journalists in African prisons are actually local journalists.”

Ethiopia is the second-worst jailer of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa, with at least eight journalists imprisoned, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Quintal said four of the people had been arrested since the state of emergency was declared in August 2023, but they had never been formally charged.

Galindo, 36, traveled to Addis Ababa to cover the African Union summit and other political news, according to his employer. The publication added that he holds a journalist visa and appropriate accreditation from the government’s media authority.