Complaint in France against detention of Bongo’s wife after coup

The lawyers of Sylvia Bongo, Franco-Gabonese wife of deposed Gabonese president Ali Bongo, filed a complaint in France on Friday for arbitrary detention, Me François Zimeray and Jessica Finelle announced to AFP.

Since the military seized power in Gabon last Wednesday, deposed President Ali Bongo and his wife Sylvia Bongo have been detained separately.

Two of their sons are also deprived of their liberty.

“Ms. Valentin, wife of Bongo, has been deprived of her freedom since the putsch of August 30, 2023, just like her youngest son Jalil, while another son, Nourredin Bongo Valentin, is incarcerated in an undisclosed location,” worry the two lawyers in a press release.

Until then, the military had said nothing about the fate of Sylvia Bongo, married to Ali since 1989 and with whom she had four children.