The Court for the Repression of Offenses (Criet) opened, yesterday, Friday April 26, the trial of 42 people arrested during the 2021 presidential election following electoral violence. These are opposition activists or sympathizers, all of whom have pleaded “not guilty” to the acts of which they are accused. The files of eleven defendants were examined at the end of the first day of hearing with the first submissions.
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With our correspondent in Cotonou, Jean-Luc Aplogan
The Court reserved two rows of benches for the defendants, there were 42 of them Beninese, students, activists, mechanics, hunters or farmers all in blue prison vests. Among them a woman and an old gentleman who had to be offered a chair at the bar.
Six files
There are 42 defendants but six cases, classified according to the offenses, “attack on the exercise of electoral rights”, “munition trafficking”, “prohibited assembly”, etc. The court looked into four cases on the first day of hearing, eleven defendants out of the 42 are concerned.
Sentences of three to ten years
All pleaded “not guilty”, one student admitted to having participated only in peaceful marches, another accused admitted to having deflated tires. The first requisitions have been issued, they call for sentences of three to ten years. The rest of the trial is postponed until May 3, 2024.
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