Former Comorian President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, placed in preventive detention for more than four years for a corruption case, will finally be tried for "
high treason
" before the State Security Court, denounced Monday his lawyer and his family.
The former head of state (2006-2011), main opponent of the current president Azali Assoumani, was originally prosecuted for "
embezzlement of public funds, corruption, forgery and use of forgery
" in the so-called scandal of “
economic citizenship
”, which involved the sale of Comorian passports to stateless persons from the Gulf countries.
"
We are being told today of high treason, a crime which will justify a heavier sentence before the State Security Court, whose decisions are not subject to appeal
", denounced Tisslame Sambi, daughter of Mr. Sambi. , joined by telephone by AFP.
“
This referral to the State Security Court constitutes the height of illegality and violation of the rules of procedure as well as the rights of the defense
”, castigated Me Ahamada Mahamoudou.
Scandal of “
economic citizenship
”
The date of the trial was not disclosed.
Asked by AFP, government commissioner Ali Mohamed Djounaid said it was "
not impossible that it will be held before the end of November
".
The order for reference dated September 10, a copy of which AFP obtained, stresses that since "
the law has not defined high treason, nor fixed the penalties, nor provided for the procedure, it is necessary to make a legal construction of this notion of high treason
".
Read alsoComoros: two relatives of the president sentenced in the “ingot affair”
Several political figures have been charged in the “
economic citizenship
” scandal revealed by a parliamentary report in 2017, including two former vice-presidents in office between 2011 and 2016.
escape justice
Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, 64, was placed under house arrest in May 2018 for disturbing public order and then in detention three months later.
The legal length of pre-trial detention in the Indian Ocean archipelago is a maximum of eight months.
Doctors have been recommending for almost three years the evacuation abroad of the former president, in degraded health, for treatment.
But the regime of President Assoumani refuses to accede to this request, accusing Ahmed Abdallah Sambi of wanting to escape justice.
