A television presenter in Ivory Coast was convicted on Wednesday of glorifying rape and given a one-year suspended reformatory sentence for asking a convicted rapist he invited on to his prime-time display to simulate a sexual assault using a mannequin.
The court also fined the presenter, Yves de Mbella, 2-million CFA francs (R51,000) and banned him from leaving Abidjan, the country’s commercial capital, for a year, a spokesperson for Ivory Coast’s justice design told Reuters.
The man who appeared on the display was sentenced to two years in reformatory, the spokesperson said.
De Mbella has apologised for the phase in which he asked his guest to demonstrate how he raped women folk, helped him adjust the female mannequin and asked whether or no longer the victims “enjoyed it”.
De Mbella said on Tuesday he had been trying to “raise awareness” in the phase, which aired on the Nouvelle Chaine Ivoirienne (NCI) private television station on Monday, however said he had “made an error”.
NCI also apologised and cancelled the final episode of De Mbella’s display, which had been scheduled for Friday. An online petition calling for the display to be cancelled has got nearly 50,000 signatures.
Ivory Coast’s independent communications council on Tuesday ordered de Mbella suspended for 30 days, saying the phase had condoned rape and attacked the dignity of women folk.
