The justice of Burkina Faso condemned, Thursday December 26, the French-Beninese polemicist Kémi Séba to "two months in prison suspended", for "contempt" to president Roch Kaboré, at the end of a hearing in "immediate appearance".
The Ouagadougou High Court also fined the founder of the Pan-African Emergencies movement of 200,000 CFA francs (300 euros), also recognizing him guilty of contempt of foreign heads of state including the Ivorian Alassane Ouattara and the Nigerian Mahamadou Issoufou.
"I was sentenced to two months suspended sentence which are actually two symbolic months because even the judges know that I am right," said Kémi Séba after the trial. He had been arrested at his hotel in Ouagadougou and placed in police custody on December 21, after a public conference on the CFA franc, of which he is a virulent detractor, at Joseph Ki Zerbo University.
"An electroshock"
Refuting accusations by the prosecution of having made "insulting and outrageous words" towards the heads of state, Kémi Séba explained at the bar that he wanted to "send an electric shock to wake up African leaders who are being manipulated by the French president" Emmanuel Macron.
"No one (...) will be able to prevent us from saying what we think. And they must understand that prison is the fourth time that I have been sent there and each time I come out stronger, "he insisted before being triumphantly welcomed by his supporters.
According to his lawyer, Prosper Farama, this trial "calls into question the freedoms of expression and opinion", and constitutes a "democratic retreat".
Kémi Séba, whose real name is Stellio Capochichi, who presents himself as a "pan-African polemist and speaker", has in recent years organized or participated in Africa in several events hostile to the CFA franc. He has been regularly arrested or expelled from countries like Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal or Guinea.
A deep FCFA reform was announced on Saturday by Alassane Ouattara and Emmanuel Macron.
With AFP
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