He came second in the December presidential election and wanted to travel to France for medical treatment, according to his spokesman. The authorities cite “new measures” taken under the state of emergency and ongoing investigations into links between the CPC rebels and “certain political figures.
According to government spokesman Ange-Maxime Kazagui, if Anicet-Georges Dologuélé was denied the right to board the plane on Wednesday, it was because he was unable to provide an authorization to leave the country issued by the Ministry of Security. This is now mandatory, he said, as part of the state of emergency and ongoing investigations into the coup attempt launched in December by the CPC rebels.
“The Central African authorities are conducting a number of investigations, not on Mr. Dologuélé, I would like to clarify, to find out the various correlations between the CPC and certain political parties and certain personalities and it is within this framework that provisions have been made so that the exits of public figures from the territory are validated in advance by the authorities. ”
Has an investigation been opened directly against Anicet-Georges Dologuélé? No,” says the spokesman, “this is a general measure. An “illegal” measure, replied Christian Gazam Betty, spokesman for Anicet-Georges Dologuélé. He denounces a drift of the state of emergency and deplores the fact that the opponent was informed of this new measure only the day before by diplomatic channels.
“When there are investigations, the people concerned must be notified. We can’t say that because of a general investigation, everyone is blocked. And when provisions of this nature are taken, it is the responsibility of the supreme authority to notify the institutions,” said the spokesman, as Anicet-Georges Dologuélé is a member of parliament. Moreover,” says Christian Gazam Betty, “at no time has the justice system seized the National Assembly to request a potential lifting of his parliamentary immunity so that he can be heard in relation to an investigation. Because of the state of emergency, the president has the right to decide on the free movement of people in the country? No. That is not the case. ”
The spokesman deplores a “humiliating” measure, contradictory according to the president’s stated desire to hold a republican dialogue in the country soon.