In Comoros, justice closes the investigation into the death of the attacker of President Azali Assoumani

The Comorian justice system has closed the investigation while the causes of Ahmed Abdou’s death remain unknown. The young soldier who stabbed President Azali Assoumani during an assassination attempt in the suburbs of Moroni on Friday, September 13, died in detention the following day. This did not prevent the prosecution from closing the case on Wednesday, without explaining the circumstances of his death. A hasty decision that sparks controversy in the Comoros.

Never, during the fifteen years that he was at the head of the country, had the former coup colonel been the object of such an attack. That day, during the funeral of a notable religious in the town of Salimani Itsandra, a gendarme dressed in civilian clothes tried to stab him during the wake, slightly wounding him in the scalp and hand. The 24-year-old man, Ahmed Abdou, known as “Fanou,” was not on duty. The motive for his attempted murder remains a mystery. Immediately arrested by the police, he was found dead at dawn the next day in his cell at the Moroni gendarmerie.

What happened in those few hours? The Comorian justice system seems to be losing interest in the issue. “On Saturday morning, when the investigators showed up to question him, when they opened the door to his cell they found the young man lying, a lifeless body.”Moroni’s prosecutor’s office explained. To the extent that there was no “There are no injuries from firearms or blunt or sharp weapons”the prosecutor did not see “the opportunity to continue the research”.

“Gray areas”

Except in Moroni many people question this decision. “The prosecutor infers that it was a natural death simply because there were no visible injuries. “This doesn’t make sense.”declares the lawyer and former Minister of Justice Fahmi Saïd Ibrahim, who questions “on the numerous gray areas surrounding the issue”. Among them, the absence of an autopsy performed on “Fanou’s” body.

When asked, neither the presidency of the Comoros nor the gendarmerie of the archipelago responded to questions from World. According to the prosecutor, these are, however, the “security agents who repressed the young man and handed him over to investigators” after the attack. What did they do with him? Several sources indicate that the attacker was first taken to Beit-Salam, the presidential palace, for interrogation. Before being transferred to the intelligence headquarters in Moroni. There he was allegedly tortured and then his body was left overnight in the gendarmerie investigation brigade.

An event that a Comorian soldier claims to have witnessed before fleeing to Tanzania. His lawyer, Saïd Larifou, announced that he had submitted an application to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva to request his protection for fear of persecution in the Comoros. “He witnessed acts of torture”advance M^my Larifou, without giving details about the identity of the complainant and without providing evidence. According to the lawyer, Comorian authorities deployed soldiers in Tanzania to try to exfiltrate his client.

This story embarrasses the leadership of the State, which does not hesitate to silence critical voices. A Moroni blogger was detained for four days for questioning the version presented by the authorities. Slightly injured, Azali Assoumani wanted to appear in public to silence rumors about his state of health. He appeared with a bandage on his forehead the week after the attack to chair a meeting of his government.

Nepotism accusations

Since his controversial re-election in January, marred by numerous manipulations and sparked by major unrest marked by the death of a protester, Azali Assoumani has seen his authoritarian power criticized. “There is no longer independent justice”laments Daoudou Abdallah Mohamed, leader of the Orange party and candidate in the last presidential elections, who believes that the prosecutor’s decision to abandon the investigation is dictated by those in power. “The Comoros has become a family affair! »says Azali Assoumani’s former Interior Minister.

These accusations of nepotism against the presidential clan have become recurrent since one of the head of state’s sons, Nour El-Fath Azali, became secretary general of the government, the equivalent of prime minister. Another of his sons, Loukman Azali, is head of the gendarmerie group on the island of Grande Comore. “It has become terror”says a Comorian journalist who testifies on condition of anonymity due to the numerous intimidations he receives from the intelligence services.

“This is a betrayal and a denial of justice by prosecutor Moroni”declared lawyer Gérard Youssouf to Agence France-Presse (AFP). “It is an injustice to close an investigation that was never carried out. “The prosecutor has failed in his mission.”adds this former member of the electoral commission, who was forced to go into exile in January after denouncing “electoral manipulation” of President Assoumani.