Benin: creation of a new court of justice dedicated to land cases

The headquarters of the Ministry of Justice and Legislation in Benin, on July 4, 2021 in Cotonou.

© Wikimedia Commons CC BY SA 4.0 Victory Chris

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The deputies voted at the beginning of the week the creation of the Special Court of Land Affairs.

After the commercial court, the dreaded Economic Affairs Repression Court (Criet), here is a new jurisdiction that will exclusively manage land disputes.

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With our correspondent in Cotonou,

Previous laws have not overcome insecurity and land shenanigans, explains the government in its reasons.

Tens of thousands of Beninese families are affected, penalized by the slowness of justice and the various land scams.

All that remains is the promulgation and the appointment of magistrates to install it.

Its headquarters will be in Cotonou, the special court includes an appeals chamber, a trial chamber, a prosecution and a registry.

It has jurisdiction in seven cities in the south including Cotonou, Porto-Novo, Abomey and Ouidah and will deal exclusively with real estate actions and those related to expropriation for public utility.

Thousands of pending cases

All the files not yet emptied will be transferred to him and there are thousands of them lying around.

According to a magistrate, a land file to be emptied can last 10 years.

Some protagonists die before the end of the procedure.

Litigation often opposes the heirs who question the transfers made by their father or their mother.

The other files relate to land shenanigans, sale of the same land to several buyers with issuance of false title deeds or fragmented state domain and sold to nominees.

La Criet has already tried and condemned several personalities close to power.

It is moreover the special prosecutor's office of the Criet which will represent the public ministry during the hearings of the new jurisdiction.

►Also read: Report Africa - Benin

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