Gabon court sentences former first lady and president’s son to 20 years in prison

LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) — Gabon’s former first lady and her son were sentenced in absentia by a special criminal court to 20 years in prison following a two-day trial in Libreville.

Sylvia Bongo and Noureddin Bongo Valentin were convicted of concealment and embezzlement of public funds, money laundering, criminal association and forgery.

The court sentenced the duo late Tuesday, according to a judgement, and also issued an arrest warrant for them. They were ordered to pay millions of dollars in damages for “crimes against the Gabonese state.”

Valentin said the verdict had long been “predetermined” under the office of President Oligui Nguema and called the trial a “simple formality.”

Sylvia Bongo and Noureddin Bongo Valentin were influential during former president Ali Bongo’s 14 years in power of the central African country. Ali Bongo was ousted in a coup in 2023 after winning a disputed election that the military and opposition said was marred by fraud. The coup put an end to the Bongo dynasty’s 56 years in power. Ali Bongo’s father, Omar Bongo, ruled for 42 years.

The prosecutor accused both defendants of manipulating the former president’s health issues to control state funds.

Valentin, who held the position of coordinator of presidential affairs, was described by witnesses during the trial as the main person giving orders at the presidential palace after his father suffered a stroke in October 2018. Following Ali Bongo’s ouster, both Valentin and his mother were detained for 20 months before being allowed to travel out of the country.

The Bongos, who live in London and hold French citizenship, refused to participate in the trial. During the trial, the prosecutor released images of two private jets allegedly procured with laundered money and listed land holdings including a mansion in London and Morocco.

“They reigned unchallenged, and tried to pass themselves off as victims of the system they shaped,” said Eddy Minang, prosecutor general at the Libreville Court of Appeal.