Freedom Neruda
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15 August 1956
Freedom Neruda | |
|---|---|
| Born | Tiéti Roch d'Assomption 15 August 1956 |
| Occupations | Journalist, Ambassador of the Republic of Côte D'Ivoire to the Islamic Republic of Iran (November 2001- August 2011) |
| Known for | editing of Notre Voie, imprisonment |
| Awards | International Press Freedom Award (1997) World Press Freedom Hero (2000) |
Freedom Neruda (born as Tiéti Roch d'Assomption, 15 August 1956) is an Ivorian journalist. In 1996, he was imprisoned for seditious libel after writing a satirical article about Ivorian President Henri Konan Bédié. The following year, he won an International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists, and in 2000, he was named one of the International Press Institute's 50 World Press Freedom Heroes of the past 50 years.
Neruda was born in Duékoué, Côte d’Ivoire, and is an alumnus of the University of Abidjan. After his graduation, he worked as a high-school mathematics teacher until 1988,[1] when he became a copyeditor at the Ivorian daily Ivoir' Soir.[2] By 1990, he was working as an investigative reporter under the name "Freedom Neruda".[3] This pen name is a homage to Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, whose work Freedom Neruda finds inspiring.[4]
After an unsuccessful attempt to start his own independent newspaper, La Chronique du Soir, Neruda agreed to take over the newly founded La Voie in 1991. With Neruda as its editor-in-chief, La Voie quickly went on to become the best-selling independent newspaper in Côte d’Ivoire.[3] The paper regularly ran critical coverage of the government of President Bédié, resulting in several court appearances on defamation charges and prison sentences for at least six members of the editorial staff.[4] In 1995, the paper's offices were firebombed, but no one was hurt.[2]