TNAG-0559-FCO40-654-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-into-othe-1975 — Page 124

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In January 1975 Chad was the subject of a world-wide postcard campaign organized by AI, which appealed to President Tombalbaye to release the hundreds of untried detainees reportedly held in poor conditions in prisons in the capital, N'Djamena, and the urban centers of Moundou and Doba.

February 1975 saw the trial in N'Djamena of 32 persons accused of having plotted the overthrow of President Tombalbaye. Although the principal accused, Madame Kaltouma Guembang, received a 7-year prison sentence at the conclusion of the trial, there were indications that the government was displeased by what it considered to be the leniency of the sentence, and a new trial was in preparation when Tombalbaye's government was overthrown in a coup d'état on 13 April 1975. The new regime, which took power after President Tombalbaye's death during the fighting, turned to the question of the political prisoners as a matter of priority. By the end of April 1975, according to government sources, 172 prisoners had been released, and there were no further political prisoners in Chad. Among those freed were a number of AI adoptees, but the releases coincided with the tragic news that over 70 political detainees had died in prison or been executed summarily between January 1974 and April 1975. AI is attempting to obtain a complete list of those prisoners freed and those who did not survive. Meanwhile, groups continue to handle 27 adoption cases: prisoners whose exact fate remains uncertain.

Dahomey

On 17 March 1975 the National Revolutionary Tribunal in Cotonou, the capital of Dahomey, passed death sentences on seven persons allegedly involved in a plot against the state during January 1975. Among those sentenced were former President Emile Zinsou and his brother Dr René Zinsou. Dahomeyan law provides no appeal from the decisions of the tribunal, only the Head of State having the power to exercise clemency.

Immediately on hearing of the death sentences Amnesty International Secretary General Martin Ennals. appealed to President Mathieu Kerekou by cable and letter, asking for commutation of the sentences.

Equatorial Guinea

During 1974-75, Amnesty International received disturbing reports concerning the death of political prisoners and other opponents of the government of President Macias Nguema. In June 1974, between 80 and 100 prisoners in Bata, the capital of the mainland portion of the country, were reported killed after the President alleged that they were plotting against him in prison.

In December 1974 Equatorian exiles in Europe issued a list of 319 persons whom they alleged had been executed since the country gained independence from Spanish colonial rule in 1968. Following the "suicide" of former Vice- President Edmundo Bosio in February 1975, AI Secretary General Martin Ennals appealed to President Macias Nguema to halt atrocities being inflicted on political prisoners in the country.