DSince July 26, 2023, the date of the military coup d’état in Niger, the President of the Republic, Mohamed Bazoum, democratically elected two years earlier by universal suffrage, has been deprived of his liberty. After categorically refusing to give in to the pressure exerted to force his resignation, he is confined to two rooms in his residence, in the heart of the presidential guard camp, whose former commander is the executioner of the coup with his accomplices who said they were friends of the president.
He is being held under strict guard by armed men along with his wife, Hadiza. The conditions of his detention are very severe. Any exit from the building is strictly prohibited, with no communication with the outside world except for a visit to the doctor twice a week. Under the pretext of an orchestrated escape attempt, his phone was confiscated on 19 October 2023.
Mohamed and Hadiza Bazoum are now victims of arbitrary detention, which violates the fundamental guarantees of individual freedoms and international law, and which has particularly painful consequences for their families and, of course, for the people of Niger.
What do we blame President Bazoum for? No complaint was brought against him under criminal law and no explanation was given for his arrest. He was not notified of the grounds for the charges and was never brought before a magistrate. The only legal procedure formally initiated against him was the referral to a “State Court”, created by the junta in violation of the Constitution and replacing the supreme courts which were the Council of State and the Court of Cassation. This procedure ended with the lifting of presidential immunity, which would lead to the referral of Mr. Bazoum to the military court, four of whose five judges are military officers without legal training.
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All these facts are extremely serious and may lead us to fear the worst, especially since the military code of justice provides for the death penalty. At the beginning of the coup, condemnations of this arbitrary detention multiplied, starting with those of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and even the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States. The latter, since December 2023, ordered the release of President Bazoum and his family and the restoration of constitutional order in Niger.
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