Abidjan – Authorities in Ivory Coast denied Wednesday that people were unjustly arrested over banned protests during the October presidential election following criticism by Amnesty International.
The justice and human rights ministry reacted Wednesday, saying that those detained “were duly prosecuted, tried and convicted, having benefited from all the guarantees of a fair trial, for acts disturbing public order”.
Amnesty calls on Ivory Coast to release ‘unjustly arrested’ election protesters
Amnesty said some of those detained are being held only because they were in the vicinity of the unrest. Among them are three women in the advanced stages of pregnancy, the rights group said.
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“Contrary to the statements in Amnesty’s communique, which amount to an inappropriate value judgment, these individuals were neither ‘arrested without grounds’ nor ‘unfairly convicted’,” said Constant Zirignon Delbe, the human rights chief, who signed the statement.
Ivorian authorities stressed that pregnant women prisoners received regular medical checkups and assistance.
“No woman deprived of her liberty is subjected to an environment detrimental to the proper course of a pregnancy,” they said.
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Source: AFP
