Ajavon: African Court rules four relatives' application inadmissible
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on La Nouvelle Tribune
Four relatives of Sébastien Ajavon, sentenced to 20 years in prison, saw their application against the Beninese state declared inadmissible by the African Court on Friday. They were seeking 680 million CFA francs after their bank accounts were seized, but had not exhausted domestic remedies, according to La Nouvelle Tribune.
On Friday 13 November 2026, the judges of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights dismissed, on grounds of inadmissibility, the application of four relatives of Beninese businessman Sébastien Ajavon against the Beninese state. They challenged the seizure of their personal bank accounts and sought financial compensation. According to the court’s ruling, the applicants had not exhausted the domestic remedies available in Benin, so the court did not examine the merits.
Ida Afiavi Goudjo, wife of Ajavon, and three other relatives, who live in Paris with refugee status, had brought the case before the Court on 29 November 2019. According to them, their assets had suffered from measures taken following the 20-year prison sentence handed to Sébastien Ajavon by the court specialising in economic offences and terrorism, the CRIET. Originally, their claim was for 170 million CFA francs per person, or 680 million CFA francs in total, plus other compensation relating to their shares in the companies COMON and SOCOTRAC.
The court noted that the applicants could bring their claims before Beninese civil courts, under Articles 1382 and 1383 of the Civil Code, for their shares in COMON. As for the bank accounts, it recalled that the OHADA Uniform Act, a text harmonising business law in Africa, provides procedures for challenging seizures and for lifting them. It concluded that these remedies were available and effective, and had not been exhausted.
This case extends the dispute between Sébastien Ajavon and the Beninese state. After his conviction in 2018, the businessman moved away from Beninese territory and went to France, where he had applied for political asylum with the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA).
