Ex-president Ali Bongo and his household launch a authorized counter-offensive in Paris | EUROtoday
Get real time updates directly on you device, subscribe now.
DEither their discreet departure from Gabon in May, the Bongo opened a brand new judicial entrance in France towards the Gabonese authorities. Setting, torture, spoliation: the household of ex-president Ali Bongo tries to internationalize a battle of political and heritage inheritance. In Libreville, the facility ensures making ready a nationwide, “fair and fair” trial.
A extra cozy regulation had nonetheless been envisaged. At the tip of 2023, discussions would have been engaged behind the scenes: the Bongo household would go away the nation in alternate for a partial restitution of the belongings acquired throughout their reign. But in line with a number of sources, the settlement would have purchased on the difficulty of authorized ensures. On May 15, 2025, Sylvia, Ali and their son Noureddin Bongo left Libreville for Luanda, earlier than becoming a member of London.
It is now in Paris that the continuation is performed out. On June 30 and July 1, all three had been heard by two investigating judges of the Paris judicial court docket as civil events. Their criticism, filed by Zimeray & Finelle and Doughty Street Chambers’ places of work, goals on the new Gabonese authorities for “kidnapping”, “sequestration in organized gang”, “acts of torture” and “barbarism”.
Judicial offensive and picture battle
Behind this method, a technique: to maneuver the authorized battle outdoors Gabon. Ali Bongo, nonetheless marked by his stroke, would have delivered an in depth account of his detention after the coup of August 30, 2023. According to Jeune Afrique, Sylvia Bongo claims to have attended the torture of her son Noureddin. Their legal professionals, Me Pierre-Olivier Sur and Clara Gérard-Rodriguez, denounce “arbitrary detentions” and “political revenge”. Before their departure, a number of members of siblings – Léa, Bilal and Jalil – had additionally been heard by justice.
The goal is obvious: to query the legitimacy of the army regime and relocate the battle to a judicial area perceived as extra impartial. A trial in France, doubtlessly publicized, might change the Bongo clan on the worldwide chessboard, failing to have the ability to return to energy in Libreville.
Libreville counterattack: to return and cross trials and crossed accusations
Gabonese energy was fast to react. In a press launch launched after the Parisian hearings, the presidency denounces “a false construction and foundation”. The authorities ensures to have “many material and verifiable evidence”, which can be transmitted to French justice. And to recall that the occasions after the coup “took place in strict compliance with fundamental rights”, beneath the attention of the general public and social networks.
On July 4, authorities spokesperson, Théophane Nzame-Nze Biyoghe, needed to recall that Sylvia and Noureddin Bongo stay positioned beneath judicial supervision, focused by heavy prices: “high treason”, “embezzlement of public funds”, “falsification of presidential signature”, even “drug trafficking”. The prosecutor has confirmed the closure of the investigation since April 10, with partial dismissal orders and re-qualifications, prelude to a trial introduced inside “reasonable deadlines”.
In filigree, the heritage conflict
Beyond the accusations of torture, one other entrance feeds this showdown: that of heritage. Family legal professionals denounce seizures deemed unlawful of belongings held in Gabon and overseas. Libreville says, quite the opposite, that these “official restitutions” conditioned the provisional launch of the principle involved.
This quarrel extends to civil society. While some denounce an “attempted cynical victimization” of the Bongo, Gabonese NGOs announce that they wish to file a criticism in flip, for “blood crimes” and “large -scale financial crimes” dedicated beneath the previous regime.
The alternative of Paris shouldn’t be trivial for this battle. It was in France that in 2007 and beneath strain from NGOs anti -corruption was opened, an investigation into the “badly acquired property” of the Bongo household. It targets an necessary actual property heritage – mansions, villas on the Côte d’Azur, luxurious flats – suspected of getting been funded by diverted public funds. Ali Bongo, who benefited till 2023 from presidential immunity, has not been protected since his fall.
To uncover
The kangaroo of the day
Answer
For General Brice Oligui Nguema, now on the head of the nation, the opening of a parallel trial in France might weaken the legitimacy of its transition. In Libreville as in Paris, every camp intends to grasp the narration. The Bongo – Omar household, founding father of the regime, then his son Ali – reigned for 55 years on Gabon, a wealthy oil state of Central Africa. She presents herself right this moment as a sufferer of a political purge orchestrated by the putschists. The junta denounces an try and instrumentalize justice. “No one is above the laws,” insists the federal government, calling on the Gabonese to not be “abused”.
Behind this authorized battle, a double subject is rising: for the Bongo, profitable again a capital of picture and worldwide affect; For the Oligui regime, flip the web page for half a century of reign. In any case, the case solely exceeds courts.
https://www.lepoint.fr/afrique/gabon-l-ex-president-ali-bongo-et-sa-famille-lancent-une-contre-offensive-judiciaire-a-paris-05-07-2025-2593744_3826.php