Fovi Katakou the Togolese Activist Released After 9 Days in Prison

On 11 December 2021, human rights defender and pro-democracy activist Fovi Katakou, also a person with a disability, was arrested by gendarmes at his home in Soviepe, Lome and taken to the premises of the Central Criminal Investigation and Investigation Service (SCRIC). He is accused of promoting crimes and inciting resurrection against state authority after a post on his social media page where he said that “from students, military, religious leaders and artists, nobody was immune from the social control of President Gnassimgbe and his clan. Nobody is safe in this country”. Fovi Katakou was detained at the Lome Civil prison, and was released on 20 December 2021 and placed under judicial control.

The charges against him are still pending. The human rights defender was previously arrested from 30 June 2019 to 1 July 2019 together with 5 other people for lack of accreditation when they were disseminating information on social networks regarding massive fraud attempts during the elections.