France has refused to grant asylum to a Centrafrican journalist who revealed Russian mercenary group Wagner was conducting disinformation campaigns in his home country, a non-governmental organisation said Thursday.
Ephrem Yalike-Ngonzo worked for a Russian agent to manipulate public opinion in the Central African Republic from 2019 to 2022, but he decided to speak up after he was asked to help cover up Russian mercenaries wounding two herders, the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF) said.
He spoke to investigative outlet Forbidden Stories in an article published in 2024, after which his Russian handler was placed under EU sanctions.
President Emmanuel Macron personally intervened to allow him to travel to France in 2024, after months in hiding following threats for allegedly revealing the true story of how the herders were wounded.
But his asylum request was rejected in April.
Despite Yalike-Ngonzo “having served France’s interests by revealing the inner workings of Russia’s vast propaganda machine, the country has rejected his asylum application,” the PPLAAF said.
His lawyer Henri Thulliez, director of strategy at the PPLAAF, said he had appealed that decision.
“Abandoning Ephrem after promising to support him is not a simple mistake. It is a glaring contradiction,” he said.
President Faustin-Archange Touadera called in Wagner in 2017 to help his army against the rebels, giving it two major gold mining concessions and forestry rights.
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged more than 450 people — including a few Georgia residents — in connection with global health care fraud schemes totaling a record $6.5 billion.