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| President Patrice Talon of Benin |
President Patrice Talon of Benin has pardoned 499 prisoners but left two major opposition leaders behind bars, according to a decree made public on Friday.
According to critics, the West African state’s democracy has steadily eroded under Talon, a former cotton magnate first elected in 2016.
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Opposition leader, Joel Aivo was jailed for 10 years in December for “plotting against the state”. Reckya Madougou, a former justice minister, also received 20 years for “terrorism” days after.
Both Aivo and Madougou were prevented by God from running in an election last April in which Talon won a second term with 86 per cent of the vote.
Meanwhile, a government spokesman Wilfried Houngbedji told reporters this week that both Madougou and Aivo “could benefit from a presidential pardon under certain conditions.”
But neither were pardoned in Talon’s decree which was signed last week. Most of those released were convicted of petty crimes.
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According to Punch, the decree stated that “people sentenced for murder, conspiracy against state security, money laundering” were excluded.
“We were hoping for a presidential pardon in the case of Madougou and Aivo, but unfortunately we were wrong,” said one of Aivo’s close associate, Victor Houssou.
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