Moussa Tchangari, a figure in Nigerien civil society, was kidnapped on Tuesday evening, December 3, in Niamey. The general secretary of the Alternative Espace Citoyen association was at home when armed men came to take him away by force, without providing the slightest explanation. To this day, his relatives still do not know where he is being held.
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The association “Alternative Espace Citoyen” undertook research in several official places of deprivation, without success. Mamane Kaka Touda, member of the association, told RFI that Moussa Tchangari had just returned from a work trip to Abuja and Abidjan.
He arrives at his home early in the evening, takes a shower, when a local child informs him that someone outside wants to see him. Suspicious, Moussa Tchangari refuses to go out. The visitors, men in civilian clothes and armed, insist on luring him outside.
Faced with his refusal, they entered his house, up to his room, without revealing their identity or presenting an arrest warrant. The attackers seized the activist’s suitcase, phone and computer before taking him by force to an unknown location.
The association does not accuse anyone, but emphasizes that other citizens suffered the same fate, with the same modus operandi, before reappearing several days later, to be officially arrested.
Moussa Tchangari is known for his defense of freedoms and his positions against French military bases. He also openly criticizes several decisions of the AES countries, including the Nigersuch as the recent loss of nationality of several political figures in the country or the withdrawal of NGO approvals last month.
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