DAKAR, Senegal — The household of a Portuguese-Belgian support employee detained within the Central African Republic for allegedly being in contact with armed teams to plot a coup maintained his innocence and known as for his launch Tuesday, even because the African authorities stated it had proof to help its accusations.
The brother of Joseph Figueira Martin earlier advised The Related Press the help employee had solely been in contact with the rebels to assist assure his security and keep alive whereas working in harmful components of the Central African Republic.
“When he reaches sure areas, he has the duty to get in touch with these individuals to make sure he’s not gonna get shot at,” Georges Martin stated in late June. He described the advisor for a U.S.-based support group as a brand new father with deep expertise in battle zones in Africa.
On Tuesday, his household launched an announcement pleading with the governments of Portugal and Belgium for assist.
Figueira Martin, a advisor for the American support group FHI 360, was arrested in Might, in response to the Central African Republic prosecutor’s workplace, over allegations of spying, being in communication with armed teams to plot a coup and jeopardizing nationwide safety. He has not been formally charged.
He’s being held in a navy jail and began a starvation strike final week to protest the circumstances of his detention.
“The remedy inflicted on Joseph Figueira Martin in Bangui represents an actual defeat for all establishments and humanitarian organizations working in Central Africa,” the household assertion stated.
The assertion comes after authorities in Central African Republic stated final week they’d discovered proof that Figueira Martin financed and coordinated the actions of armed teams.
“These info are corroborated by cash transfers, audio recordings and incitement to struggle crimes,” they stated.
Whereas arrests of overseas support staff within the Central African Republic are uncommon, the nation is tightening its grip over support organizations working in areas the place the navy is preventing armed teams. Following Figueira Martin’s arrest, authorities warned overseas NGO staff in opposition to collaborating in actions that would jeopardize nationwide safety or face judicial proceedings.
Martin, Figueira Martin’s brother, stated his sibling likes that “sort of setting.”
“That’s the place he feels that he’s making a distinction,” he stated.
Central African Republic has been in battle since 2013, when predominantly Muslim rebels seized energy and compelled then-president François Bozizé from workplace. Principally Christian militias fought again. A 2019 peace deal helped sluggish the preventing however six of the 14 armed teams that signed later left the settlement.
The Russian mercenary group Wagner can also be current in Central African Republic to carry off armed insurgent teams and maintain President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who has been in workplace since 2016, in energy.
Figueiro Martin was arrested in Zemio, a city in southeastern Central African Republic that has been tormented by preventing between ethnic militias and anti-government rebels for over a decade.
FHI 360 says Figueira Martin had come to the Central African Republic to help the design of a mission targeted on assuaging poverty, rising financial alternatives and stopping gender-based violence.
“The allegations in opposition to Mr. Martin don’t align with the info surrounding his go to or the work of FHI 360,” the group stated in an announcement earlier this month.
Central African Republic’s authorities spokesperson, Maxime Balalu, advised the Related Press that the accusations in opposition to the FHI360 advisor are “very critical” and that he has religion within the “professionalism and independence” of his nation’s judiciary.
Following the announcement of Figueira Martin’s starvation strike final week, the United Nations Workplace of the Excessive Commissioner issued a report deploring human rights violations, similar to torture and arbitrary arrests, within the nation’s locations of detention.
Figueira Martin had labored as a advisor for FHI 360 on a number of events since 2023, in response to the general public well being group. He had additionally labored for different support organizations earlier than, occurring missions to Congo, Chad, Sudan and the Central African Republic on a number of events.
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The Related Press author Jean Fernand Koena contributed reporting from Bangui, Central African Republic.
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