ECOWAS Court Orders Release of Ousted Niger President, Bazoum

The court of the West African bloc, ECOWAS, declared on Friday that Mohamed Bazoum, the president of the Republic of Niger, who has been detained since a coup on July 26, must be released right away.

The judge in the case hearing in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, ordered Bazoum’s “immediate and unconditional release” and his reinstatement.

Following Bazoum’s overthrow and incarceration by the presidential guard, Niger is presently suspended from the Economic Community of West African States.

 “It is Mohamed Bazoum who represents the state of Niger; he remains president of the republic,” the court ruling said.

“There are constitutional rights that have been violated.”

Since his overthrow, Bazoum has lived in his presidential mansion with his spouse and their kid.

The military government of Niger did not react to the decision right away. In the past, several member states have disregarded ECOWAS court decisions.

The overthrown president filed an appeal with the ECOWAS Court of Justice in mid-September, hoping for both his freedom and the reinstatement of the nation’s constitutional order.

 “The decisions of the court are not subject to any appeal,” Bazoum’s collective of lawyers said in a statement sent to AFP.

According to Seydou Diagne, one of Bazoum’s lawyers, the court “for the first time convicted military authorities who, with their coup d’état, violated the principles of the constitution of ECOWAS.”

“It is the responsibility of ECOWAS and its member states to ensure that this court decision is effectively applied,” the lawyers’ statement said.

ECOWAS announced on Thursday that Niger was now suspended from all of its “decision-making bodies” until constitutional order is restored.

AFP