Amnesty International Report 1994 - Benin

Three possible prisoners of conscience continued to be held, apparently without charge or trial, throughout 1993. A journalist was jailed, five months after being sentenced in absentia, apparently because he had criticized the authorities. Other possible prisoners of conscience received suspended prison sentences or were held without trial. Seven people were sentenced to death in absentia but there were no executions. Three members of a farmers' union, Migbe Aya (We Reject Poverty), who had been arrested in December 1992, were detained throughout the year, apparently awaiting trial on criminal charges. However, they appeared to be prisoners of conscience, arrested solely because of the advice they had given to an individual wanting to lodge a complaint about an attempted armed robbery in which two gendarmes (paramilitary police officers) were implicated. For the first two weeks of their detention and perhaps for as long as two months, they were reportedly held in chains. Throughout the year they were held in the prison of Athiémé, a town in southern Benin, and were denied access to their lawyer. As in 1992 several prison sentences were imposed in an apparent attempt to deter criticism of the authorities. Edgar Kaho, a journalist, was arrested and imprisoned in May, enforcing a one-year prison sentence imposed on him in December 1992. He had been convicted in absentia of libel on account of an article he had written about alleged bribery of an industrialist by a former government minister. The sentence was enforced apparently in response to another article published in Edgar Kaho's newspaper, which implied that President Nicéphore Soglo and his wife had been involved in corruption. He appeared to be a prisoner of conscience. In August a Senegalese lawyer, Elimane Kane, was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment and four Beninois lawyers were given suspended prison sentences after they were convicted of libel in relation to statements they had made in court. They had apparently alleged that two people, a lawyer and a Ministry of Justice adviser, had promised their client, Amadou Mohammed Cissé, an adviser to former President Mathieu Kérékou (see Amnesty International Report 1993), that he could go free if he agreed to pay a large sum of money. More than half the money was to be paid to the Minister himself. However, Elimane Kane, normally resident in Senegal, was not known to have been taken into custody by the end of the year. The situation of 16 people arrested for their suspected involvement in an unsuccessful coup attempt in May 1992 (see Amnesty International Report 1993), remained unclear. They had been charged with offences against the security of the state. However, it appeared that some or all were among a number of prisoners who escaped from Ouidah jail in March. Jean N'Tcha, who had been held without trial since August 1991 on charges of murder and theft in connection with his activities as a security official under the previous government (see Amnesty International Reports 1992 and 1993), was released on bail in April. Fousséni Seïdou Gomina, who had been arrested at the same time for similar reasons, remained held awaiting trial because he faced charges relating to the coup attempt in May 1992. In March, seven prisoners were released on the President's orders: they included at least two people sentenced to terms of imprisonment following protests during the presidential elections in March 1991 (see Amnesty International Reports 1992 and 1993). Limited progress was made in prosecuting those believed to be responsible for torture. A national commission on torture submitted its conclusions to the government in February. It had been set up in 1991 to compile information about cases of torture, primarily those reported under the government of President Mathieu Kérékou, and to establish the circumstances in which some prisoners had died. Its findings were not made public, apparently because of disagreement within the government. In April the Minister of Justice told Amnesty International that the procuracy in Cotonou was investigating at least two individual complaints which could result in the prosecution of alleged torturers, but no verdicts had been reached by the end of 1993. In December the government agreed to allocate some money to compensate torture victims. In response to inquiries about the death in March 1992 of Gbea Orou Sianni, apparently as a result of torture (see Amnesty International Report 1993), the authorities said they were satisfied by a medical report which concluded that he had died of acute hypoglycaemia. However, they did not clarify whether torture had caused this medical condition. Seven people were sentenced to death in absentia in May. They had escaped from prison two months previously. They were found guilty of various criminal offences, including armed robbery and possession of firearms. Amnesty International expressed concern about the detention without trial of the three farmers, calling for them to be released or brought to trial, and urged the authorities to investigate allegations that they had been held in chains, indicating that this constituted a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.