Benin opposition leader and former justice minister Reckya Madougou was sentenced on Saturday to 20 years in prison for terrorism before a special court in the capital Porto-Novo.
After more than 20 hours of hearings after she went on trial Friday, Reckya Madougou, 47, was found guilty of “complicity in terrorist acts” by the Economic Crime and Terrorism Court, or Criet, which on Tuesday sentenced another key opposition figure to 10 years.
Critics say the Criet, set up in 2016, has been used by President Patrice Talon’s regime to crack down on the opposition and pushed Benin into authoritarianism.
Since the beginning of March, Madougou has been incarcerated in the civil prison of Misserete. Her lawyers have repeatedly warned of “very difficult” conditions, with no contact with the outside world except her legal team.
– Political pressure –
Less than a week before the April election, a judge from the special court fled Benin denouncing political pressure to make rulings, in particular in the case of Madougou’s arrest.
Government officials dismiss claims of political interference and say Benin’s judiciary is independent.
Benin was long praised for its thriving multi-party democracy in a troubled region. But critics say the West African state’s democracy has steadily eroded under Talon, a 63-year-old cotton magnate first elected in 2016.
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Some opposition leaders have fled the country while others were disqualified from running in elections, or targeted for investigation.
Aivo, a professor who had been held for eight months, was found guilty on Tuesday of plotting against the state and money laundering.
Aivo, who was also barred from running in the election, was arrested on April 15, four days after the ballot that saw Talon returned to power.
The same special court in 2018 also sentenced Sebastien Ajavon, an opposition figure who came third in the previous election, to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking.
He was again sentenced in early March in absentia to the second sentence of five years in prison for “forgery, forgery and fraud”. He now lives in exile.
