The International League Against Arbitrary Detention urges the Government of Togo to take all the necessary actions to implement the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Opinion No. 39/2023 concerning Abdoul Aziz Goma starting for the Government of Togo to immediately and unconditionally release him and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations in accordance with international law.
Read the full WGAD Opinion concerning Abdoul Aziz Goma (Togo): Opinion 39/2023.
ARRESTED AS PART OF A LARGER CRACK DOWN ON DISSENTING VOICES
Abdoul Aziz Goma is a Togolese businessman with Irish nationality, who was living in Ireland and in the United Kingdom.
In December 2018, Mr. Goma was in Togo for his professional activities. On 19 December, Mr. Goma helped a friend to accommodate eight young people who had come to the city of Lomé to participate in a peaceful demonstration in the context of the elections scheduled at that time in Togo but who were unable to reach the person that was originally supposed to take care of them once arrived. He also provided them with some money to help them return to Ghana the following morning. On the following day, Mr. Goma was thanked by the person who had invited these eight persons to Lomé, and parted ways with them definitively.
On 21 December, while Mr. Goma and the people he had met for dinner were returning back home, they were surrounded by a group of armed men in civilian clothes who attacked them. They were beaten, handcuffed and transferred to the headquarters of the Central Service for Research and Criminal Investigation, where they learned they had been arrested by the Special Intervention Unit of the Gendarmerie. The following day, Mr. Goma was informed he had been arrested for having called on individuals from Ghana with the aim of destabilizing Togo. On 31 December, Mr. Goma was presented before the Public Prosecutor and informed of the charges against him, namely: wilful destruction of public property, serious disturbances of public order, criminal conspiracy, and endangering the safety and security of the State. The source explained that Mr. Goma's arrest was to be understood in the context of the crack down on political opposition, including any critical voices or dissidents, by the Togolese authorities in the recent years.
Between January 2019 and January 2022, Mr. Goma was first transferred to the Lomé Civil Prison, then to the secret prison of the Lomé National Gendarmerie and eventually back to the Lomé Civil Prison. At the time of the source's communication, Mr. Goma was still incarcerated there. Though the Government was given the opportunity to answer these allegations, it chose not to.
ARRESTED WITHOUT AN ARREST WARRANT, HELD IN PRE-TRIAL DETENTION AND SUBJECTED TO ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE
At the time of his arrest, the authorities failed to present Mr. Goma with an arrest warrant and to promptly inform him of the reasons for his arrest, which the Working Group found to be in violation of article 9(1) and 9(2) of the Covenant. Besides, Mr. Goma was denied his request for bail, which neither the Prosecutor nor the Government justified properly. As such, considering there was no reason justifying his pre-trial detention, the Working Group considered that this was in violation of article 9(3) of the Covenant.
Furthermore, Mr. Goma was held incommunicado on two occasions, first during the 10 days following his arrest and second for 4 months starting from June 2020 onwards. During both of these periods, Mr. Goma was denied access to his family and his lawyer, and his family was not provided with any information regarding his location or any means of contacting him. The Working Group considered that these situations amounted to enforced disappearances. As such, the Working Group found that Mr. Goma's rights to challenge the lawfulness of his detention, to an effective remedy and be protected by law, enshrined in article 6 and 8 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 2(3), 9(4) and 16 of the Covenant, had been violated.
Consequently, the Working Group concluded that Mr. Goma's arrest and detention were arbitrary under Category I, as no legal basis was found to justify them.
DENIAL OF HIS FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS AND RIGHTS
Mr. Goma was arrested for his alleged association with individuals who were planning to participate in a peaceful demonstration in connection with the legislative elections, but did not participate himself in this demonstration. The source further noted that this case was part of a wider trend of detentions of individuals interacting with or providing material support to demonstrators by the Togolese authorities.
Considering this in light of the lack of response of the Government, the Working Group established that Mr. Goma's detention resulted from his legitimate exercise of his rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of association and to take part in the conduct of public affairs, in violation of articles 21, 22 and 25 of the Covenant. Therefore, the Working Group concluded that Mr. Goma's detention was arbitrary under Category II.
DETAINED FOR FOUR YEARS WITHOUT TRIAL AND DENIED PROPER LEGAL REPRESENTATION
Mr. Goma has been detained since 21 December 2018 and at the time of the source communication, for more than four years. No trial was held, and no trial date was scheduled either. Considering this, the Working Group found that Mr. Goma's prolonged detention without trial exceeded a reasonable duration, violating his right to be tried within a reasonable time and without undue delay, enshrined in articles 9(3) and 14(3)(c) of the Covenant.
Additionally, following his arrest, Mr. Goma was denied access to a lawyer until October 2020. Even after this, his lawyer was not present at key stages of the proceedings, such as when the investigating judge informed Mr. Goma of the dropping of certain charges and asked him to sign legal documents, in August 2021. As such, the Working Group considered that Mr. Goma's rights to be assisted by a counsel of his choosing and to equality of arms, enshrined in article 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in article 14(3)(b) and (d) of the Covenant had been violated.
Eventually, Mr. Goma was subjected to physical assaults and torture on multiple occasions. As such, on 14 June 2021, Mr. Goma reportedly filed a formal complaint regarding the torture he allegedly suffered, but at the time of the source's communication, no investigation had been ordered yet. The Working Group recalled that such mistreatments are prohibited, and that they might even have impaired Mr. Goma's ability to participate in his own defence, which would be in violation of article 14 of the Covenant.
Henceforth, the Working Group concluded that the violations of Mr. Goma's right to a fair trial were of such gravity that his detention was arbitrary under Category III.
CONCLUSIONS OF THE UN WORKING GROUP AGAINST ARBITRARY DETENTION
In light of the foregoing, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considered that the detention of Abdoul Aziz Goma was arbitrary and fell under categories I, II, and III because his deprivation of liberty was in contravention of articles 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 21 and 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 2, 9, 14, 16, 21, 22 and 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The Working Group recommended that the Government of Togo take the necessary steps to remedy the situation of Abdoul Aziz Goma without delay and bring it into conformity with the relevant international norms. The Working Group considered that, taking into account all circumstances of the case, the appropriate remedy would be to release him immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.
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