The Niamey court on Monday overturned a nine-month prison sentence that had been given to Abdoulaye Seydou, the leader of a prominent activist group that backs the ruling military, according to his associates.
Last month, members of Niger’s presidential guard took control in a coup.
Seydou, the leader of the M62 group, had been imprisoned for seven months in connection with a case related to an army air strike targeting suspected militants in the southern part of the country.
“The Niamey Court of Appeal has cancelled the decision of the High Court… which had sentenced our comrade Abdoulaye Seydou to nine months in prison”, said M62 secretary general Sanoussi Mahaman.
“We have always said that Abdoulaye Seydou’s detention is an arbitrary decision… orchestrated from start to finish”.
Established a year ago, the M62 movement is a coalition comprising approximately 10 groups and NGOs that are against the presence of French military forces in Niger.
In recent weeks, the movement has spearheaded calls for demonstrations in support of the officers who overthrew Niger’s elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, on July 26.
Seydou was arrested in January and subsequently sentenced in April.
His organization had accused the defense and security forces of carrying out mass killings of civilians during helicopter raids on an illicit gold mine in October of last year. The raids were initiated due to the suspicion that the individuals responsible for the deaths of two police officers had taken refuge there.
The government has confirmed that airstrikes were conducted following the deaths of two police officers in Tamou, which is situated near the border with Burkina Faso.
While the government reported that seven individuals were killed and 24 were injured in the airstrikes, the political opposition and civic organizations contend that the number of fatalities was significantly higher.
