Abidjan – Ivory Coast has arrested 13 members of the leading opposition movement on plotting charges, their lawyer told AFP on Thursday — the latest detentions ahead of the presidential election.
The arrest of dozens of government critics in the run-up to the October 25 ballot, in which President Alassane Ouattara is seeking a fourth term, has sent tensions soaring in the west African country.
The 13 members of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI) — whose leader, Tidjane Thiam, was barred by the courts from running against Ouattara — were arrested on Tuesday, according to their lawyer and party.
“They are accused of plotting against the authority of state and causing breaches of the peace,” lawyer Sosthene Toure told AFP.
Toure said the activists were accused of “subversive actions” and helping to organise a march on October 4 after the government banned protests against the exclusion of opposition candidates from the vote.
One of those activists appeared to have been arrested by mistake, the lawyer added.
A PDCI deputy confirmed that 13 people had been charged.
Although the government insists the judiciary acted of its own accord in banning Thiam and other Ouattara critics from the election, the opposition has repeatedly questioned the independence of the Ivorian courts.
Ouattara, 83, will face former ministers Jean-Louis Billon and Ahoua Don Mello, as well as former first lady Simone Ehivet Gbagbo and Henriette Lagou, who previously ran for president in 2015.
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Source: AFP
