(This report covers the period January-December 1997)

At least seven people were alleged to have been extrajudicially executed by the security forces, who continued to enjoy total impunity for widespread human rights violations. Opposition party supporters, including prisoners of conscience, were detained for short periods. There were new allegations of torture and ill-treatment.

In September Parliament adopted a new electoral law intended to ensure greater independence for the National Electoral Commission responsible for supervising presidential elections due to be held in August 1998. Under this law, eight members were elected, from both the ruling party and opposition parties. However, the main opposition party did not participate in the vote.

Perpetrators of human rights violations were rarely brought to justice. However, two soldiers responsible for the death of

a German diplomat in March 1996 (see Amnesty International Report 1997) were sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment by the Assizes Court in December.

The Forces armées togolaises (fat), Togolese Armed Forces, were alleged to have committed at least seven extrajudicial executions in two incidents. The victims were mainly people who had returned to Togo after fleeing in January 1993 when the security forces opened fire on a peaceful opposition demonstration. In February the fat were reported to have extrajudicially executed Apetse Koffi Amen, known as "Miky", a former soldier, and Agbemoa, a Ghanaian national who was accompanying him. The two men were reportedly seized by soldiers in an ambush at Agbadjankin, between Assahoun and Batoume, before being killed. In June in Assahoun, fat soldiers stopped a car travelling from Ghana to Togo's capital, Lomé. The five occupants of the car, including Amoussou Koffi and Amah Messan, were later killed. There appeared to be no investigation into these killings.

Dozens of people, including journalists and opposition supporters, were arrested by the security forces in Lomé and other places. Many of them were tortured or ill-treated. Most were not formally charged and were possible prisoners of conscience. Some were released after a short period, but by the end of the year at least three people remained in detention without charge or trial.

At least four journalists were detained during the year. Among them was Augustin Assiogbo, managing director of the privately-owned weekly Tingo-Tingo. He was arrested in February after the family of former Minister of Foreign Affairs Alasounouma Boumbera filed a complaint. He was released in May after being sentenced to four months' imprisonment, two of them suspended. Also in February, Gabriel Agah, publisher of Forum Hebdo, was sentenced in absentia to a one-year prison term and a heavy fine. The court also issued an order suspending the newspaper from publication for six months. In December Kodjo Afatsao, the publishing director of the weekly newspaper Le nouveau journal was detained for four days. He was accused of propagating false information offensive to the Head of State, by referring to an article in a French-based magazine accusing the Togolese authorities of assisting Zairian soldiers loyal to the former Zairian President, Mobutu Sese Seko.

In February Segla Atchikiti, an opposition member, was arrested in Atakpame and detained for at least four days without charge or trial. During his detention he was transferred to the palace of the Head of State in Kara.

In October at least eight people were arrested in the village of Akato, considered to be an opposition stronghold. Some were released but at least three, including Masseme Kodjo, were still in detention without charge or trial at the end of the year. In December Jean-Pierre Fabre, Secretary General of the Union des forces de changement, Union of the Forces of Change, an opposition party, was arrested and accused of ordering a group of young people to take pictures of dead bodies in certain hospitals. He was released without charge after one day.

Adjété Ako and Djekpo Jolevi, two army officers arrested in 1995 on their return from Benin, remained in detention without charge or trial (see Amnesty International Report 1997). However, Folly Dagnon Koffi, another soldier held with them, was apparently released, although his release was not confirmed. Claude Gumedzoe and Sergeant Augustin Ihou, who were arrested in 1996 (see Amnesty International Report 1997), remained in detention without charge or trial.

There were further reports of torture and ill-treatment. Many of those held by the security forces were tortured and ill-treated and at least two people died in custody, allegedly as a result. In July Danklou Dosseh and Agbodjinshie Yakanou, who had been arrested a month earlier in Akato, reportedly died as a result of torture and ill-treatment in Lomé prison.

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