Cotonou Court of First Instance: Imprisonment and 83 million FCfa for 3 ivory traffickers (Benin)

S
stenews
Thu, Jan 14, 2021 8:03 PM

*Translated from the French by an automated online translation service, so
please excuse the roughness. See link for original.  *

Cotonou Court of First Instance: Imprisonment and 83 million FCfa for 3
ivory traffickers (Benin)
Actu Benin
January 14, 2021

See link
http://actubenin.com/tribunal-de-premiere-instance-de-cotonoudes-peines-demprisonnement-et-83-millions-de-fcfa-pour-3-trafiquants-divoires
for photo.

The Cotonou First Class Court of First Instance delivered a verdict on
Tuesday, January 12, 2021 in a case of elephant ivory trafficking. The
facts date back to 2018.

183 kg of ivory intended for market was seized by the General Directorate
of Water, Forests and Hunting and elements of the Judicial Police with the
technical collaboration of the Aalf-Benin program of the Eagle network.

According to corroborating sources, one of the three defendants was
sentenced to 24 months' imprisonment and a fine of 1,000,000 FCfa. The
other two were sentenced to 24 months imprisonment with suspended sentence
and 1,000,000 FCfa in fines each.

The three defendants must pay the State the sum of 80,000,000 FCfa as
damages for compensation for any damage combined. They are accused of
transporting and marketing trophies of fully protected animal species.

The elephant being in this category of species, no one has the right to
circulate, import, export, re-export or market their trophies. These
provisions are provided for by Articles 153 and 154 of Law No. 2002-16 of
October 18, 2004 on the wildlife regime in the Republic of Benin.

In addition to fines according to this specific wildlife law, imprisonment
can be up to 5 years imprisonment. Article 158 provides for the conditions
under which the penalties of fines and imprisonment may be doubled. The
government fighting for zero crime against wild animals, justice has just
given proof that it is playing its part in the fight against wildlife crime
in Benin.

http://actubenin.com/tribunal-de-premiere-instance-de-cotonoudes-peines-demprisonnement-et-83-millions-de-fcfa-pour-3-trafiquants-divoires

*Translated from the French by an automated online translation service, so please excuse the roughness. See link for original. * Cotonou Court of First Instance: Imprisonment and 83 million FCfa for 3 ivory traffickers (Benin) Actu Benin January 14, 2021 See link <http://actubenin.com/tribunal-de-premiere-instance-de-cotonoudes-peines-demprisonnement-et-83-millions-de-fcfa-pour-3-trafiquants-divoires> for photo. The Cotonou First Class Court of First Instance delivered a verdict on Tuesday, January 12, 2021 in a case of elephant ivory trafficking. The facts date back to 2018. 183 kg of ivory intended for market was seized by the General Directorate of Water, Forests and Hunting and elements of the Judicial Police with the technical collaboration of the Aalf-Benin program of the Eagle network. According to corroborating sources, one of the three defendants was sentenced to 24 months' imprisonment and a fine of 1,000,000 FCfa. The other two were sentenced to 24 months imprisonment with suspended sentence and 1,000,000 FCfa in fines each. The three defendants must pay the State the sum of 80,000,000 FCfa as damages for compensation for any damage combined. They are accused of transporting and marketing trophies of fully protected animal species. The elephant being in this category of species, no one has the right to circulate, import, export, re-export or market their trophies. These provisions are provided for by Articles 153 and 154 of Law No. 2002-16 of October 18, 2004 on the wildlife regime in the Republic of Benin. In addition to fines according to this specific wildlife law, imprisonment can be up to 5 years imprisonment. Article 158 provides for the conditions under which the penalties of fines and imprisonment may be doubled. The government fighting for zero crime against wild animals, justice has just given proof that it is playing its part in the fight against wildlife crime in Benin. http://actubenin.com/tribunal-de-premiere-instance-de-cotonoudes-peines-demprisonnement-et-83-millions-de-fcfa-pour-3-trafiquants-divoires