UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
Amnesty International, Central Africa,-12/26/94

Amnesty International, Central Africa,-12/26/94

 +------------------------------------------------------+
 +     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
 +     Electronic distribution authorised               +
 +     This bulletin expires: 26 December 1994.         +
 +------------------------------------------------------+

 EXTERNAL (for general distribution)  AI Index: AFR 19/01/94
                                      Distr: UA/SC

 UA 399/94     Death penalty          14 November 1994

 CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC           Dieudonne KALANGA BELLY
                                    Antoine METENDE
                                    Alain-Isaac GBABELE
                                    Boris Barnabe WILI BONA
Amnesty International is concerned that the four gendarmes named above have been sentenced to death after having been found guilty of murder by the Permanent Military Court of the Central African Republic. Apart from a pourvoi en cassation (a review procedure by the Supreme Court which may grant a retrial), there is no right of appeal against the verdict of a military court. Execution would be carried out in public by firing squad.

It is not yet known if a date for the cassation procedure has been fixed. Because there is no right of appeal, trials before military courts do not conform to international standards of fair trial. As death sentences must be confirmed by the head of state, Amnesty International is calling on President Ange Felix Patasse to commute all four death sentences passed.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

On 13 September 1994 the military court, which had been sitting since 12 September, convicted Boris Barnabe Wili Bona of the fatal shooting of Hermine Yakite, a pregnant woman killed on her way to hospital in May 1993 as demonstrating security forces tried to commandeer her car. The other three gendarmes were convicted on 28 October 1994 for the killing of Dr Claude Conjugo, an eye-doctor, who was beaten to death during a demonstration in August 1992. Amnesty International had appealed to the former government to open inquiries into the killing of Claude Conjugo and Hermine Yakite and to bring those responsible to justice.

The penal code of the Central African Republic provides for the death penalty for a number of offenses including murder and killing in the course of other crimes such as armed robbery, although as far as it is known there have been no executions since 1981. In September 1993, the first democratic elections held in the Central African Republic, after years of one party rule, brought to power President Patasse, a former prisoner of conscience.

 +-----------------------------------------------------------+
 + Supporters of Amnesty International around the world are  +
 + writing urgent appeals in response to the concerns        +
 + described above. If you would like to join with them in   +
 + this action or have any queries about the Urgent Action   +
 + network or Amnesty International in general, please       +
 + contact one of the following:                             +
 +                                                           +
 +      Ray Mitchell, rmitchellai@gn.apc.org (UK)            +
 +      Scott Harrison, sharrison@igc.apc.org (USA)          +
 +      Guido Gabriel, ggabriel@amnesty.cl.sub.de (Germnay)  +
 +-----------------------------------------------------------+


Message-Id: <199411251722.RAA24913@orion.sas.upenn.edu>
Date: Fri, 25 Nov 1994 12:13:21 -0500
From: Faraz Fareed Rabbani 
Subject: AI: C.A.R bulletin (fwd)

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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