Benin: Sébastien Ajavon's lawyer denounces "an unprecedented decline in public freedoms"
Sébastien Ajavon, politician in the Republic of Benin © PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP
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4 min
In an open letter to Beninese President Patrice Talon, Maître Antoine Vey, lawyer for Sébastien Ajavon, who came third in the last presidential election, denounces a decline in freedoms in the country and asks that his client's conviction be quashed.
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The message is addressed directly to President
Patrice Talon a
few months before the next presidential election, scheduled for April 2021. French lawyer Antoine Vey believes,
in an open letter
, that since the inauguration of the Beninese head of state in 2016 , “
Benin is experiencing an unprecedented decline in public freedoms
”.
He accuses the president of having “
misled the electoral process in order to be able to control it and prevent any dissident expression from gaining access to the elections.
The conditions for candidacy were tightened, while a law on political parties unduly restricted the right of association, in flagrant violation of the African Charter on Human Rights
”.
Interference with freedom of the press
According to him this would have excluded the opposition from the electoral process
during the last legislative elections
leading to a "
record abstention
" and a "
climate of unprecedented violence
".
For master Antoine Vey, freedom of the press is also the target of power.
“
Nearly a dozen journalists, including Ignace Sossou, have been imprisoned since the 2018 edition of the Digital Code
”, he recalls, before taking the example of his client, Sébastien Ajalon, one of the main opponents of the regime, who arrived with nearly 23% of the vote in the last presidential election.
"
The conviction of Sébastien Ajavon must be quashed
"
The lawyer denounces a "
politico-judicial cabal linked to an alleged international drug trafficking
" and requests the annulment of the conviction of his client.
Sébastien Ajavon was sentenced in 2018 to 20 years in prison but has always claimed his innocence.
"
As long as Mr. Ajavon has not been restored to his rights as a citizen, as long as no opposition can be expressed, Benin will no longer be able to claim the title of democracy of which it has been proud for so long
", concludes the lawyer.
Almost all of Patrice Talon's opponents have been muzzled.
Maître Antoine Vey, lawyer for Sébastien Ajavon
Jeanne Richard
In November 2019,
the State of Benin was ordered
by the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) to pay Sébastien Ajavon 60 million euros for economic and moral damage caused to man business and political opponent.
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