TOGO

CASE N° TG/01 - MARC ATIDEPE
CASE N° TG/02 - TAVIO AMORIN
CASE N° TG/03 - GASTON AZIADUVO EDEH

Resolution adopted without a vote by the Inter-Parliamentary Council
at its 164th session (Brussels, 16 April 1999)

The Inter-Parliamentary Council,

Referring to the outline of the case, as contained in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians(CL/164/13(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 163rd session (September 1998) concerning the case of Mr. Marc Atidépé, Mr. Tavio Amorin and Mr. Gaston Aziaduvo Edeh, of Togo,

Recalling that Mr. Atidépé and Mr. Amorin, both members of the High Council of the Republic of Togo, the former transitional legislative body, were assassinated in May and July 1992, respectively; that Mr. Edeh, MP-elect, was murdered in February 1994 and that the killings of all three parliamentarians were allegedly carried out by military personnel, there being an eyewitness of Mr. Edeh's murder who had to leave Togo for fear of his life,

Recalling that, under a general amnesty law for all politically motivated crimes and offences committed before 15 December 1994, the investigations into those murders were closed, which was tantamount to their recognition as " political or politically motivated crimes ",

Recalling that the Togolese Government, which had expressed its intention of considering the question of compensation, finally decided by Decree N° 1237 of the State Minister of Economy and Finance, dated 25 November 1997, to award compensation of 10,000,000 CFA francs each to the families of the parliamentarians concerned " by way of support ",

Considering that the compensation was paid to Mrs. Edeh for " accidental death "; that, according to information supplied by one of the sources in March 1999, the families of Mr. Amorin and Mr. Atidépé consider that they will not be able to receive compensation until the circumstances of the two MPs' assassination have been elucidated,

1. Stresses the general human rights principle that victims of violations of human rights are entitled to know the truth, to enjoy justice and to receive fair and adequate compensation;
2. Commends the National Assembly and its President for the efforts made to ensure that the families of the three assassinated MPs receive compensation;
3. Deeply regrets that the right of the victims to know the truth and to enjoy justice has not prevailed, these crimes having remained unpunished so far, and emphasises that, in accordance with relevant international standards, payment of compensation to the victims of human rights violations or their families in no way relieves the State of its duty to dispense justice;
4. Decides to close the file.

Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 101st Conference and related meetings of the Inter-Parliamentary Union" in PDF format (file size approximately 570K). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.