Three lawyers decided to launch, this Monday, March 18, an emergency procedure before the United Nations (UN) in order to obtain the release of Abdoulkarim Aden Cher. The former Djibouti Budget Minister has been detained for two years awaiting a possible trial. He is suspected of passive corruption, influence peddling, embezzlement of public funds and obstruction of the law.
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“ Everything is at a standstill and Abdoulkarim Aden Cher finds himself in a desperate situation. » For Me Hector Bernardini, there is urgency. The former Djiboutian Minister of Budget has been in detention since March 2022, “ in inhumane conditions “, he said. However, if in the beginning, there were hearings and confrontations organized by the prosecutor, “ no act of investigation, no act of judicial investigation has been carried out for more than 18 months », Indicates Me Bernardini.
The lawyer from the Paris and New York bars as well as two of his colleagues therefore decided to act, to try to move the lines, by filing a “ request for urgent action » before the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and specifically its working group on arbitrary detention. A document of which RFI obtained a copy.
In principle, this type of complaint should help speed up the process. As soon as it is registered, diplomatic correspondence must, in theory, be sent to Djibouti. The three lawyers hope that the organization will put pressure on the Djiboutian state and that the OHCHR will advocate for his immediate release, the holding of a fair trial and ” guarantees of non-repetition “, that is to say that once released, Abdoulkarim Aden Cher will no longer be the victim of arbitrary imprisonment.
Bad governance and Caesarism
Political opponent, Abdoulkarim Aden Cher had joined the government and the Ministry of the Budget before being dismissed at the beginning of 2022, officially for “ breakdown of trust » with the president, Ismaël Omar Guelleh. The day after his dismissal, he denounced on Facebook “ bad governance and Caesarism » at the head of state, advocating a “ positive, inclusive and beneficial change “. The same day, the ex-minister was arrested at his homein Arta, and sent to the research and documentation section of the gendarmerie.
The arrest would have been justified by a report sent to the general inspection in which its Ministry of the Budget is accused of having “ squandered public funds (…) by mobilizing large sums for services which appear to be mostly fictitious. (…) Two arrested ministry officials directly implicated the former Minister, Mr. Abdoulkarim Aden Cher, as being the main instigator of this system ”, says the report.
A few days later, the prosecutor hit the nail on the head by issuing a press release to highlight a “ clean hands operation » who would have dismantled a network of embezzlement of several billion Djiboutian francs. Abdoulkarim Aden Cher would in fact be the instigator of this network.
Fraudulent system
The ex-minister’s custody ended after four days. Released provisionally, the politician then decided to respond, by granting a radio interview in which he denounced a cabal intended to tarnish his image and politically motivated prosecutions, proclaiming in the process his innocence and attacking the summit of the ‘State. He explained that he had transmitted to the Djiboutian president reports highlighting misappropriation of the state apparatus for the benefit of private interests, and that ultimately, he would be criticized for his political action to clean up the system, put an end to clientelism and favoritism. A few days later, on March 23, he was incarcerated.
The request sent to the UN denounces numerous shortcomings in the procedure which led to this imprisonment. According to the document, the file is devoid of any complaints and denunciations. His police custody would be illegal because it took place without the presence of a lawyer. His indictment did not follow the planned procedure, since it should have been voted on by the deputies, due to Abdoulkarim Aden Cher’s capacity as minister. The public prosecutor, by publishing a press release saying that he was the instigator of a fraudulent system of embezzlement, would also have violated his right to the presumption of innocence.
Rats and cockroaches
Today, Abdoulkarim Aden Cher is staying in Gabode central prison. According to the request of his lawyers, his conditions of detention would be “ degrading and inhumane “. According to ” urgent action procedure “, he would be imprisoned with two common law prisoners, in an unsanitary cell without windows, infested with rats and cockroaches. He would sleep on a mattress on the floor, would never be allowed to go out and his visits would be monitored and listened to. “ This place is a deathhouse, a dungeon, dungeons », Indicates Me Bernardini.
Today, lawyers have no visibility on the legal future of Abdoulkarim Aden Cher. No trial date has been set. The situation of the former minister seems frozen in time.