A/HRC/16/79 Duekoué, armed men reportedly attacked a Catholic church. They escaped with computers and a vehicle, which was recovered on 20 December by its owner. J. Sexual violence 26. With regard to violence against women, 23 cases of rape linked to post-election violence have been documented. On 24 December, a 44-year-old woman married to a highranking State official was raped in Benongossou, near Abidjan airport, by three individuals dressed in civilian attire and armed with knives and machetes, and accompanied by another group of men dressed in military attire and armed with rifles. The woman was abducted outside her home and taken to a nearby bush, where she was sexually assaulted for refusing to make a pro-Gbagbo statement. The victim was referred to a specialized organization for psychological and medical assistance. 27. On 4 January 2011, in Duekoué, 19 women and girls were gang-raped by armed militiamen, who threatened to burn them alive. On 15 January, a male RHDP supporter, aged 30, who had previously been arrested on 4 January during the raid on the PDCI headquarters by FDS members and released from detention on 5 January, was rearrested, tortured and sexually abused by members of the Republican Guard. In the holding cell, the victim was beaten and sodomized from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. by eight soldiers, who also inserted the end of their kalashnikov rifles into his anus until he agreed to provide them with the names and addresses of other RHDP supporters. He was treated by UNOCI health personnel at the mission’s medical unit before being referred, on 16 January, to a specialized hospital for appropriate medical assistance. K. Role of the media in inciting hatred and violence 28. Even though all 14 presidential candidates had equal and free access to public media during the run-up to the first round of the election, the RTI mainly focused on the activities conducted by Mr. Gbagbo, Mr. Bedié and Mr. Ouattara. Public and private media failed to provide basic civic education training for the benefit of the citizens. One consequence of this failure was the high level of spoiled ballots observed in the first round of the election. Accusing foreign media of bias in the Ivorian crisis following the broadcast by France 24 of the provisional electoral results announced by the Independent Electoral Commission from the Golf Hotel, the Gbagbo Government shut down the foreign media, blocked the transmission of telephone text messages and attempted to block the transmitters of ONUCI FM radio, which was accused by Mr. Gbagbo and his supporters of broadcasting messages inciting violence. 29. This new situation was openly amplified by public and private media in the pay of political leaders, under the passive eye of the media regulator, the Conseil national de la communication audiovisuelle. The RTI publicly embarked upon an intensive and systematic campaign to incite intolerance and hatred against the United Nations, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the facilitator of the Ivorian dialogue and non-LMP leaders and supporters. It galvanized people, including soldiers loyal to Mr. Gbagbo, to prepare for a potential war. The RTI was turned into a propaganda machine for the LMP candidate, monopolizing media space, spreading inflammatory messages and violent speeches, and calling upon the Ivorian population to “resist the enemy”, thus creating a potentially explosive situation in the country. 11