Jean Hélène (8 August 1953 in

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''Mill (grinding), mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department, in the Grand Est Regions of France, region, eastern France, close to the France–Switzerl ...

– 21 October 2003) was a French journalist specializing in Africa. He was working for

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

when he was killed in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...

by police Sergeant Théodore Séry Dago. Jean Hélène was his press name, Christian Baldensberger being his real name.

Controversial Journalism

Earlier, Jean Hélène had served as the

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

correspondent in Rwanda. His coverage of the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

during this period was biased in favour of the

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the prin ...

s. In particular, during the early months when thousands of civilians were butchered, he characterized the killings as those of enemy combatants. A French court ruling in May 1999 says: :Considering that an examination of the press cuttings entered into evidence shows that during the first two months of the conflict Le Monde, through its correspondent, Jean Helene, highlighted the "civil war" aspect of the conflict...

Murder and Trial

On 21 October 2003, in a prevailing atmosphere of rabid anti-French sentiment during the

Civil war in Côte d'Ivoire The First Ivorian Civil War was a civil conflict in the Ivory Coast (also known as Côte d'Ivoire) that began with a military rebellion on 19 September 2002 and ended with a peace agreement on 4 March 2007. The conflict pitted the government of ...

, Hélène had gone to the Abidjan police headquarters to interview some government opponents who had just been released from detention. Apparently he had an altercation with Sergeant Dago over parking, following which Dago went inside, grabbed an

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas operated, gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian s ...

and shot him dead as he was walking from his car, talking on his mobile phone. Sergeant Dago was immediately arrested and apparently confessed to the crime. Subsequently however, he changed his position claiming that he had come inside the building after talking to Helene when he heard the shots that killed him. There was wide international condemnation of the event. Amnesty international said: :The fact that a sergeant can kill a journalist who posed no threat to him in cold blood shows the atmosphere of

impunity Impunity is avoidance of punishment, loss, or other negative consequences for an action. In the international law of human rights, impunity is failure to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice and, as such, itself constitutes a d ...

in which Côte d’Ivoire security forces have been operating. After the event, Théodore Séry Dago became a hero and a Dago support committee was formed. In January 2004, a military court under judge Ahmed Lanzéni Coulibaly considered ballistic evidence which indicated that the bullet had been shot from Dago's service weapon, and found him guilty of having "deliberately killed" Helene. Dago was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

References

External links

*
Radio France Internationale website
*
Radio France Internationale website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helene, Jean 1953 births 2003 deaths Writers from Mulhouse People of the Rwandan genocide Deaths by firearm in Ivory Coast Journalists killed while covering military conflicts Assassinated French journalists French people murdered abroad People murdered in Ivory Coast French male non-fiction writers 20th-century French journalists 20th-century French male writers