The United Nations working group on arbitrary detention, in a document dated August 2024 and recently made public, considers that the detention of Joël Aïvo is arbitrary. He was notified to the Beninese authorities, according to his entourage. The opponent, a constitutionalist by profession, was arrested a few days after the re-election of Patrice Talon in the April 2021 presidential election.
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The deprivation of liberty of Joël Aïvo is arbitrary, according to UN experts. They believe that the detention of the Beninese constitutionalist and opponent has no legal basis, that he is targeted for his political opinions and that his right to a fair trial has been violated. In December 2021, Joel Aïvo was sentenced by the Court for the Repression of Economic Offenses and Terrorism (Criet) to 10 years in prison for conspiracy against state security. The United Nations working group on arbitrary detention therefore calls on the Beninese government to release him immediately and emphasizes that he has the right to obtain redress, particularly in the form of compensation.
For his lawyer, Ludovic Hennebel, this constitutes a textbook case of arbitrary detention. The latter hopes that the working group’s report will move the lines on the side of Beninese justice.
As it is a high authority which adopts a decision in this matter independently, this engages the responsibility of Benin.
Ludovic Hennebel (lawyer): “The working group concludes extremely clearly that the detention is arbitrary”
No response from the authorities to the UN
The authorities of Benin were contacted by letter to respond to the allegations made by the experts’ source, the document specifies. Source which mentions in particular inhumane detention conditions, in the weeks following the arrest of Joël Aïvo, and family visits limited to a few minutes, in view of all. The Beninese government did not respond within the deadline.
Two years ago, the UN group had already deemed it arbitrary the detention of opponent Reckya Madougouarrested in March 2021, a few weeks before the presidential election and sentenced by Criet) to 20 years in prison for complicity in terrorist acts.
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