In Côte d’Ivoire, the office of the organization Amnesty International asks ” immediate and unconditional release ” as well as ” cancellation of the conviction of 26 PPA-CI members. They were sentenced to two years in prison for “ disturbance of public order after having accompanied one of the leaders of their political party to his summons to justice.
Amnesty International demands the release of 26 activists from the African Peoples’ Party – Côte d’Ivoire (PPP–THIS), the training of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo. All were sentenced Thursday, March 9 to two years in prison for ” disturbance of public order “.
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These activists had been arrested and placed under arrest warrant, while accompanying one of the leaders of their party to his summons to justice. Hervé Delmas Kokou, the executive director of Amnesty Côte d’Ivoire, believes that this arrest is not in line with the values of his country.
“We found this arbitrary arrest”
“We found this arrest to be arbitrary because the State of Côte d’Ivoire, in terms of tests, we have a very good reputationhe explains at the microphone of our correspondent Bineta Diagne. We have ratified most of the conventions, whether international or regional. Better, we have the 2016 Constitution which particularly guarantees the rights and duties of citizens. We were the first African country to have a law for human rights defenders. That is to say that, from the outside, Côte d’Ivoire is a paradise, it is a country where individuals can express their rights, can demonstrate peacefully without being worried “.
Hervé Delmas Kokou continues: “ But it is the opposite that we see because, in this case, these 26 people who accompanied their friend to go and respond to a summons, these people were sentenced to 2 years in prison. So, in relation to this, we call for the immediate and unconditional release and, on top of that, we demand the cancellation of the conviction of the 26 people. »