Five civil society leaders remanded in custody in Bangui
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Corbeau News Centrafrique
Five Central African civil society figures, including Élysée Nguemale and Quentin Claver Ngouando, have been remanded in custody at the Camp de Roux detention centre on charges of undermining State security. According to Corbeau News Centrafrique, which says it obtained the first-appearance record, the case rests on facts that have not yet been proven.
Five leaders of Central African civil society have been remanded in custody and jailed at the Camp de Roux military detention facility in Bangui for undermining State security. They are Élysée Nguemalé, coordinator of the Observatory for Democratic Governance in the Central African Republic, Stève Francis Bendo-Ndeny, Quentin Claver Ngouando, Barry Cyrille Mardios and Igor Mokpem, according to Corbeau News Centrafrique.
According to the outlet, the first-appearance record it says it obtained states that the acts, ‘if proven’, would constitute incitement to disobedience, criminal association, conspiracy and complicity in undermining internal State security. Corbeau News claims that the prosecutor, Benoît Narcisse Yaguemet, based his submission on the suspects’ membership of WhatsApp groups, described as ‘subversive networks’. The outlet also claims that Russian Wagner mercenaries control the detention sites, allegations that have not been independently verified.
These detentions follow the arrest of two civil society leaders, arrested on 16 October by police. Civil society has since called for the release of the five leaders detained in Bangui.
