Benin opposition leader gets 20 years behind bars on terrorism charges

DOUALA, Cameroon

A special court in Benin’s capital Porto-Novo on Saturday sentenced Reckya Madougou, opposition leader and former justice minister, to 20 years in prison over terrorism charges.

​​​​​​​The Court of Repression of Economic Offenses and Terrorism sentenced Madougou to 20 years in jail and a fine of $86,000 for complicity in terrorist acts, local broadcaster ORTB reported.

Madougou, along with other opposition leaders, was jailed this March just weeks before April general elections in the West African nation of over 12 million people, and they were barred from contesting the polls.

She was accused of inciting terror and mayhem, as well as plotting to assassinate prominent officials during the April elections.

"I sacrifice myself for democracy," she wrote on Twitter after the verdict was announced, "and if my sacrifice may allow you, President, and your fellow judges to reclaim their independence from the government, then I would not have gone through this torture and horror unnecessarily."

One of her lawyers, Antoine Vey, criticized the court's "lack of impartiality and independence" as well as a planned trial, which she called a "mediatized political coup."

Mario Metonou, the court's special prosecutor, said Madougou was implicated, along with some members of her political party, on charges of maneuvers aimed at "provoking terror, chaos, and suspending the April 2021 electoral process."

The economic offenses and terrorism court was established in 2016, shortly after President Patrice Talon took office. Since then, numerous opposition figures have fled the country, while others have been barred from standing in elections or are embroiled in legal battles over various allegations.