SECTOR 1 1.3 There are no laws or parts of laws restricting freedom of expression such as excessive official secret, libel acts, legal requirements that restrict the entry into the journalistic profession or laws that unreasonably interfere with the functions of media. Legal restrictions limiting the exercise of the right to freedom of expression do exist. Insulting the Head of State and foreign diplomats, publication of state secrets, concealing administrative documents are offenses which, in the view of the panel, encroach unreasonably on the functions of the media. With regard to elections, the panel pointed out that a decision of February 2014 by the Supreme Audiovisual and Communications Authority (HAAC) prohibits journalists from announcing a result while it is still provisional and incomplete. Ordinance 69-22 P.R./M.J.L. of 4 July 1969 which aims to criminalize certain acts that may disturb public peace, the propagation, publication, dissemination and reproduction of false information, tends, according to the panel, to suppress certain acts of such a nature as to disturb the public peace. A contradiction is to be noted in the Articles of Association of the ORTB, intended to serve Government policy in its capacity as a public service medium. One panellist, however, saw nothing repressive about these laws, apart from the case of Lionel Agbo3, a former close collaborator of President Boni Yayi, sentenced on 23 January 2014 to six months’ effective imprisonment for insulting the Head of State. He felt that democracy is not anarchy and that the position of Head of State deserves respect. The Organic Law 92-021 of 21 August 1992 concerning the Supreme Audiovisual and Communications Authority (Article 3) stipulates that “the exercise of recognized freedoms… can only be limited in the following cases: respect for the dignity of the human person, the freedom and the property of others, the pluralist nature of the expression of schools of thought and opinion; the maintenance of public order, national unity and territorial integrity; public health and the environment; the safeguarding of cultural identity; national defence requirements; public services needs; the technical limitations of the media; as well as the need to protect, promote and develop the cultural heritage or a national industry, especially in audiovisual production.” Not all the panellists perceived the restrictions in the same way. It depends how they are applied. The excessive nature of sentences should be noted; it is necessary 3 68 Jacques Lionel Agbo is a Beninese advocate and politician. He was a candidate for the presidential elections of 1996, 2001 and 2006. In 1998 he became a member of the Cotonou bar. He is a member of the African Congress of Democrats, a political party founded in 1997. He is an opponent of President Yayi Boni. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER BENIN 2014