The African Court of Human Rights rejected the claims of the former Minister of Economy and the Benin opponent Komi Koutché. In 2020, the man won his case on the international arrest warrants issued by Spain and Interpol against him, at the request of Benin. He accused the International Court of Justice of questioning Benin’s conviction of 20 years in prison for embezzlement of public funds by 2020, in the case of the National Micro-Credits Fund.
On Friday, June 25, the African Court of Human Rights refused to examine Komi Koutché’s request on the grounds that not all remedies had been exhausted in Benin. His lawyer, Maître Grégory Thuan, known as “Dieudonné”, responds to this statement: “The African Court has rejected all our requests. We asked for many things: to note violations of Komi Koutché’s fundamental freedoms in the context of the Spanish procedure, because they We had asked for the international proceedings to be annulled on the grounds that Criet, the Court for the Suppression of Economic Crimes and Terrorism, is a court that does not meet the minimum requirements for independence and impartiality, which seems obvious to me and we are not. the only ones who say that.
“There are no more ways to appeal,” said MeGrégory Thuan, as Koutché was sentenced to 20 years in prison by default. And if he wants to appeal, he has to become a prisoner, it’s Beninese law that says so. Which is completely exaggerated and which is contrary to the spirit of normal remedies. Although I’m pretty cautious, I do not know, I do not see how legally we can be validly criticized for exhausting means of appeal ”.
► To read also: K. Koutché: “P. Talon stands today at the antipodes for all the principles that brought him to power “
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