Call out

You can call out the political parties, elected representatives, government, media, trade unions, human rights organizations and stakeholders in your country by sending them by email or mail the following letter with the subject: “Suspicious death of a Togolese political opponent”.


Download the letter (pdf file)

The letter

The lifeless body of Atsutsè Kokouvi Agbobli (AKA), historian, journalist, former minister and president of the Movement for National Development (MODENA), Togolese opposition party, was found by a fisherman on Friday August 15th 2008 on a Lomé's beach at around 10 a.m. Face down with upper extremities flexed, eyes bloodshot, bloody lips and forehead marred by bruises, the remains of AKA were not wearing any personal effects with the exception of his socks and moccasins.

According to his driver, AKA was last seen on Thursday August 14th 2008 at around 4.30 a.m. when he dropped him on the sea front a hundred meters from hotel Mercure Sarakawa.

The military physician who arrived on the scene to certify the decease estimates the death between 3.30 a.m. and 4.30 a.m. on Friday August 15th 2008.

The Minister of Security and Civil Protection said in a statement read on national television on Friday August 15th 2008 that the body of AKA was "rejected by sea".

This hypothesis is formally denied by the findings of the autopsy report ordered by the prosecutor of Lomé. The local forensic specialist states that "this is not a death by drowning" and "the hypothesis of a probable toxic death, drug intoxication [...] remains plausible" without conducting the appropriate toxicological analyses required to determine the chemical nature of substances which caused the death.

On proposal of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations (OHCHR) and after the agreement of the family of AKA, a second autopsy was conducted by Dr. Nizam Peerwani, Tarrant County, Texas (USA) acting on behalf of the non-governmental organization Physicians for Human Rights, which concluded, however, that "death is not due to acute drug intoxication" or to "traumatic injuries" but more likely a drowning knowing "that [a] diagnosis of drowning in the absence of reliable eyewitness account can only be made by exclusion" of other hypotheses. The second autopsy report also underscores the "enigma" of the discovery of the body "naked on the beach" with the exception of his moccasins and socks.

This enigma is added to the mystery of the disappearance of AKA between Thursday August 14th at around 4.30 a.m. and his death on Friday August 15th between 3.30 a.m. and 4.30 a.m., the lapse of time of more than two hours and a half between the alleged drop of AKA on to the beach by his driver and the alert of the family by the latter, the negligence of Clinic Biasa which enabled the alleged "medical escape" of AKA and the disturbing phone conversation between Togo Head of State and Maurille Agbobli, AKA's brother and member of the ruling party, on Friday August 15th 2008 early in the morning during which Faure Gnassingbé "presents his condolences "in advance" in case AKA is found dead..." (Article of Africa International No. 424 october 2008).

We signed the petition asking for the creation, as soon as possible, of an international commission of inquiry under the auspices of an agency of the United Nations to shed light on the extremely strange circumstances of the death of Atsutsè Kokouvi Agbobli and, if appropriate, identify the persons behind this tragic death and would like you to support or relay this initiative.

Please find hereafter the website and email addresses of the Association for the memory of Atsutsè Kokouvi Agbobli : www.agbobli.org and association@agbobli.org