For the attention of David Sossoli, President of the European Parliament

We, the International Collective for the Liberation of Political Prisoners in Togo, wish to draw your attention to the situation of Mr. Abdoul Aziz Goma, an Irish national and European citizen, arrested arbitrarily in the street in Lomé, Togo, on 21 December 2018 while visiting the country. Falsely accused of attempting to “destabilize” the country, Mr Abdoul Aziz Goma was imprisoned, without trial, where he has been subjected to torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment. He is now in a critical state of health as a result of this torture. He recently spent three days in a clinic in Lomé and was then returned to the place of his detention, the National Gendarmerie, a secret prison in Lomé where he has been incarcerated without trial, illegally and arbitrarily, with numerous other political detainees (over 100 in all) since 2018. 

We explicitly ask for your special attention on this issue. There have already been seven deaths among these detainees since 2018 and one of the prisoners is hospitalized in an extremely critical condition at the time of writing. 

We also wish to inform you that a political refugee granted asylum in Switzerland, Mr Jean-Paul Oumolou, father of two young children, was abducted on 4 November 2021 while visiting members of his family, and is being held since that date in the premises of the SCRIC (Central Service of Criminal Detection and Investigations). Known for his presence on social media, where he regularly denounces breaches of democratic rights and freedoms in Togo, Mr Oumolou is being accused of the serious offences of inciting rebellion against the authority of the state, of contempt of the political authorities, dissemination of false information and public defence of a crime. His health is deteriorating dramatically in the premises of the SCRIC, where he is being detained, without trial, in inhumane and degrading conditions.

Finally, we wish to alert you about the alarming situation regarding freedom of the press and the recent incarcerations of journalists and cyberactivists who have denounced the dictatorship and the torture being inflicted upon political prisoners. Mr Fovi Katakou, a militant for democratic freedoms, who is severely disabled, was arrested and imprisoned arbitrarily on 11 December 2021. The previous day, Ferdinand Ayité, the managing editor of the newspaper L’Alternative and Joël Egah, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Fraternité were also arrested and imprisoned arbitrarily. A third journalist, Isidore Kowonou, editor-in-chief of L’Alternative has been placed under judicial supervision for collusion with the two aforementioned journalists. The Togolese government is accusing these three journalists of contempt of the political authorities, defamation and dissemination of false information, following comments made by them during a news programme entitled “L’Autre Journal”, broadcast on YouTube, in which they criticized two government ministers.

We urgently need an intervention from you, members of the European Parliament. 

•  First, regarding the release of Mr. Abdoul Aziz Goma. Please note that the charges against him are completely unfounded. 

•  Secondly, to help to speed up the official investigation into the abovementioned torture which has already been ordered. Mr Aziz Goma’s entire case has been blocked and his trial cannot be held until such time as this torture investigation has been initiated and completed. We have documents proving that an investigation has been ordered. However, in fact no investigation has started since that order on 18 November 2020.

•  Thirdly, we ask your committee to provide support to demand that European member states cease all commercial and diplomatic ties with Togo as long as the political prisoners have not regained their freedom. 

We thank you for the consideration you will give to our petition and remain at your disposal for any further information.