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A view of Libreville in Gabon (illustrative image)
In Gabon, Jean Rémy Yama, president of Dynamique unitaire, the largest trade union coalition in the country, is still in detention. Arrested on Sunday February 27, he was interrogated in the military intelligence offices before being imprisoned. He is accused of breach of trust in a housing construction case for teachers. Four of them filed a complaint against him while he was managing the real estate company, SCI Serpentin, in charge of the project.
Friday, March 4, the teachers’ union (SNEC) chaired by Jean Rémy Yama, gave him his support through the voice of his vice-president, Nathalie Sima Eyi: “ The SNEC condemns and denounces the arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of its president Jean Rémy Yama. That military intelligence can be interested in a matter of common law is already surprising. Before being transferred to the central prison, he benefited from a guarantee of representation from a large number of Gabonese citizens. Here are as many elements which, for us, would have militated for a provisional release. »
« relentlessness »
« We can understand the impatience and annoyance of colleagues who cannot integrate the accommodation requested, but what the SNEC denounces is this relentlessness on the person of Jean Rémy Yamasays Nathalie Sima Eyi again. It is to the SCI normally that it is necessary to be able to lodge a complaint. Now, the feeling we have is much more the person of Jean Rémy Yama who seems to crystallize the various complaints against the SCI Serpentin. We have reason to somewhat doubt the sincerity of the proceedings. No evidence of direct financial malfeasance has so far been proven. The investments that have been made on the various subdivisions are proven. We are confident about his imminent freedom. »
Read also: Gabon: union leader Jean Rémy Yama imprisoned after his arrest
Other organizations, particularly political ones, reacted to the imprisonment of Jean Rémy Yama. Friday, March 4, at the end of an Executive Council, the Rassemblement pour la patrie et la modernité denounced his imprisonment and demanded his unconditional release. The opposition party denounces this ” umpteenth arbitrary arrest against a union leader totally devoted to the defense of workers ».