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Ivory Coast authorities on Wednesday denied claims that people were unfairly detained following banned protests during the October presidential election, responding to criticism from Amnesty International.
The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights said those arrested “were duly prosecuted, tried and convicted, having benefited from all the guarantees of a fair trial, for acts disturbing public order.”
Amnesty had called on the country to release dozens of detainees, including pregnant women, whom it described as being “unjustly arrested or convicted” over the protests that followed President Alassane Ouattara’s contested fourth-term win.
In a statement, human rights chief Constant Zirignon Delbe said the Amnesty report made “an inappropriate value judgment” and stressed that none of the individuals was arrested without grounds or unfairly convicted.
“Contrary to the statements in Amnesty’s communique, which amount to an inappropriate value judgment, these individuals were neither arrested without grounds nor unfairly convicted”.
Authorities added that pregnant women in custody received regular medical care and support, noting, “No woman deprived of her liberty is subjected to an environment detrimental to the proper course of a pregnancy.”
