GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations human rights chief on Friday mentioned there was no authorized foundation for Niger’s army junta to prosecute deposed president Mohamed Bazoum for top treason, saying the “very notion of freedoms” within the nation was at stake.
The army junta, which seized energy in a coup final month, mentioned it might prosecute Bazoum for top treason over his exchanges with international heads of state and worldwide organisations, prompting condemnation from the USA and West African leaders.
“This resolution is just not solely politically motivated towards a democratically elected President however has no authorized foundation as the conventional functioning of democratic establishments has been forged apart,” U.N. Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk mentioned in an announcement.
“The very notion of freedoms in Niger is at stake,” he mentioned. “Generals can’t take it upon themselves to defy – at a whim – the need of the individuals. Rule-by-gun has no place in at present’s world.”
The coup leaders have imprisoned Bazoum and dissolved the elected authorities of Niger, a significant uranium producer and Western ally within the battle towards an Islamist insurgency.
Turk, who known as for Bazoum’s speedy launch, mentioned the Niger coup, the sixth within the area prior to now three years, was deeply troubling.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Enhancing by Conor Humphries)