gone before the United Nations Working Group of Geneva. Essentially,
the Working Group's opinion was that saw Bertin Agba's release must
not be conditioned on Minister Pascal Bodjona having to be heard
beforehand, and that that idea helped in finding a common ground
among the Parties, thus making it possible for the Public Prosecutor to
order for the release of the Applicant.
30. Counsel for the Applicant responds by stating that it was Sow Bertin
Agba who referred the question of preventive detention before the
United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and that the
Working Group stated in its point 1: "That it is manifestly impossible to
for a State to cite any legal basis whatsoever to justify the denial of
· liberty in an instance of the preventive, detention of a person who has
'
been released on the basis of a court decision that is final." That opinion,
which was made on 14 December 2012, was notified on the Republic of
'
Togo in the same month of December 2012 and the actual release of the
'
Applicant took place only on 16 April 2013. Counsel for the Applicant
further argues that the time lapse between the notification of the
_._ ..
opinion on the Republic of Togo ·and the release of Sow Bertin Agba,
,:
j
'
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proves that the Republic of Togo not react promptly.
.
31. The Republic of Togo maintains that the opinion was served on it on 23
January 2013 and that it was on 12 February 2013 that Sow Bertin Agba
was released on a provisional basis.
32. The Court notes that Judgment No. 009/12 · of the Criminal Chamber
which ordered the provisional release of Sow Bertin Agba was made on
23 January 2012 and the surety was paid on 25 June 2012. As from the
latter date, the Applicant must have been released unconditionally, but
he was held in detention till 16 April 2013, the date on which his release
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became effective. From 25 June 2012 to 16 April 201, the detention of
Sow Bertin Agba is unjustifiable, since he had paid the required surety
and had ostensibly showed no intention to evade trial.
33. In the Judgment of 8 November 2010 on case concerning Mamadou
Tandja v. General Salou Djibo, the Honourable Court, in demonstrating
the arbitrary nature of the prevention detention at take, referred to the
9