004106 I. THE PARTIES 1. Mr. Sebastien Germain AJAVON, (hereinafter referred to as "the Applicant") is a businessman and politician of Benin nationality. He was prosecuted for cocaine trafficking before the Cotonou First Class Court of First Instance which acquitted him; he was subsequently sentenced to twenty (20) years in prison by the newly created Anti- Economic Crimes and Terrorism Court hereinafter referred to as "CRIET'. 2. The Republic of Benin (hereinafter referred to as "the Respondent State") became a party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (hereinafter referred to as "the Charter") on 21 October 1986 and to the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (hereinafter referred to as "the Protocol"), on 22 August 2014. Furthermore, the Respondent State deposited the declaration provided under Article 34(6) of the Protocol by which it accepts the jurisdiction of the Court to receive Applications directly from individuals and NGOs, on 8 February 2016. II. SUBJECT OF THE APPLICATION A. Facts of the matter 3. The documents on file show that between 26 and 27 October 2016, the Gendarmerie (para-military force) of the Autonomous Port of Cotonou and the Benin Customs Department received warnings from the Intelligence and Documentation Services at the Office of the President of the Republic about the presence of a huge quantity of cocaine in a container of frozen goods imported by the company - Comptoir Mondial de Neqoce (COMON SA) of which the Applicant is the Chief Executive Officer. Based on this information, a judicial inquiry was, on 28 October 2016, instituted against the Applicant and three of his employees for the trafficking of eighteen (18kgs) of pure cocaine . ( / ft I