On June 15, 2023, a court in Benin handed journalist Virgile Ahouanse a 12-month suspended prison sentence and ordered him to pay a fine of 200,000 CFA francs (about 305 euros) for publishing “false news” online. The case was in relation to the broadcast of an investigative piece on alleged extrajudicial killings by the country’s security forces. The charges were brought under Benin’s controversial digital code.