Translated from French by an automated online translation service, so please excuse the roughness. See link for original. Thank you to Anne Dillon for both volunteering her time to find these French articles and doing the online translating.
Following the conviction of three traffickers in Cotonou, the trial court Natitingou has followed suit in its ruling last Tuesday of two suspected ivory traffickers arrested Friday, November 11, 2016, at Porga near the Beninese-Burkina border.
Initially during the hearing the prosecutor requested six months’ imprisonment for Mr. Y. Mamoudou, and the release of I. Karim. The judge, taking decisions on his personal conviction, confirms the release of Mr. Karim, giving him the benefit of the doubt. Because, the judge said, he merely accompanied his friend Mamoudou at the scene of the transaction, and there is no evidence to justify his involvement in the trafficking.
Y. Mamoudou, however, was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment with a fine of CFA 100.000F and 100.000F CFA damages to profit the administration of the park. We must remember that these traffickers were arrested with 13.5 kg of ivory from Natitingou station components with the technical support program “Support to the Application of Laws on Fauna and Flora (AALF-BENIN).”
Certainly, it is necessary to take note of the decision of the judge, but it should also be said that even if Karim was not in possession of the ivory, he should still be considered to be an accomplice. Article 166 of Law No. 2002-16 of 18 October 2004 concerning the regime of wildlife in the Republic of Benin stipulates that “accomplices are punished as the principal authors and jointly sentenced to fines, damages and fees refunds.” With this decision, the “zero tolerance against illegal trade in wildlife” advocated by the international community is on borrowed time. Because it is under this theme that the World Environment Day was celebrated on June 5, 2016. And opining on this topic, Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations was indignant and said that “the situation is serious. Elephants are killed for their tusks . . .” Which means that we must reverse the trend and to do that, no clemency should be given to the traffickers.