Definitive Report - Report No 114, 1970

Case No 536 (Gabon) - Complaint date: 19-SEP-67 - Closed

1. 103. This case was examined previously by the Committee at its sessions in February and November 1968, when it submitted two interim reports, contained in paragraphs 287 to 295 of its 103rd Report, and paragraphs 288 to 296 of its 108th Report.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 104. The original complaint, which dates from September 1967 and was made by the World Confederation of Labour (then known as the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions), was essentially concerned with the fact that Mr. Walker Anguilet, General Secretary of the African Confederation of Gabonese Believing Workers, was alleged to have been arrested on 13 September 1967 on grounds of which the complainants confessed ignorance but which they suspected to be directly connected with his trade union activities.
2. 105. When it last examined the merits of this case at its session of November 1968, the Committee noted the Government's statements of June 1968, from which it appeared that Mr. Anguilet had been charged under section 73 of the Penal Code of the Republic of Gabon in respect of " participation in a revolutionary movement ", that the case was being investigated, and that Mr. Anguilet would probably appear before the National Security Court before the end of 1968.
3. 106. The Committee had therefore recommended the Governing Body, which had approved this recommendation:
   • (a) to express the hope that judgment in the case concerning Mr. Anguilet will be passed as early as possible;
   • (b) to request the Government to supply the text of the National Security Court's verdict in the case concerning Mr. Anguilet once the Court has passed judgment, as well as the text of the grounds adduced, and to adjourn its examination of the case pending receipt of those texts.
4. 107. These conclusions were brought to the attention of the Government by a letter dated 21 November 1968, but no reply to the request for information contained therein has been received.
5. 108. In a joint communication of 24 December 1968, the World Confederation of Labour and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions stated that Mr. Anguilet had been sentenced to life imprisonment by the National Security Court, and that another trade unionist, Mr. Essone N'Dong, had been sentenced to four years' imprisonment.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 109. At the beginning of 1969, the ILO received information to the effect that the President of the Republic had commuted Mr. Anguilet's sentence to ten years' imprisonment.
2. 110. More recently, in a communication dated 8 September 1969 addressed to the Director-General, the President of the Republic of Gabon stated that " on the occasion of the Gabonese national festival on 17 August, the two trade unionists sentenced for activities likely to harm the internal security of the State have received clemency: Mr. Essone Thierry has been released on probation and Mr. Walker Anguilet has had his sentence reduced ".
3. 111. While welcoming the information given in the preceding paragraph, the Committee regrets that the Government has not considered it desirable to supply the information requested in paragraph 296 of its 108th Report, quoted in paragraph 106 above, and that the Government has failed to supply the text of the judgment against Mr. Anguilet and the text of the grounds adduced, thus preventing the Committee from itself assessing the motives underlying the measures taken against him.
4. 112. The Committee must once again point out, in this connection, that in cases where governments appeared to maintain that a reply in general terms to the effect that the detention of trade unionists has been due to unlawful or subversive activity and not to trade union activities should be regarded as adequately substantiated, the Committee has considered that the question whether the matter in respect of which sentences have been imposed is to be regarded as a matter relating to a criminal or political offence or a matter relating to the exercise of trade union rights is not one which can be determined unilaterally by the government concerned in such a manner as to prevent the Governing Body from inquiring further into it.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 113. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to express its disappointment at the fact that the Government has failed to supply the text of the judgment against Mr. Anguilet and the text of the grounds adduced, thus preventing the Committee and the Governing Body from themselves assessing the motives underlying his conviction;
   • (b) to note with satisfaction, however, that the Government has shown clemency to Mr. Anguilet and Mr. Essone as mentioned in paragraph 110 above.
   • (c) to request the Government to be good enough to keep the Governing Body informed of any new developments with regard to the two persons mentioned in the preceding subparagraph.