Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has complained to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention about the “arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of activists Larry Emmanuel and Victor Anene Udoka simply for peacefully exercising their right to protest in Kogi state.”
SERAP said: “The arrest and continued detention of Larry Emmanuel and Victor Anene Udoka is an egregious violation of their human rights. The Nigerian and Kogi state authorities have violated the following rights under the Nigerian Constitution, 1999 (as amended) and international law in continuing to detain Larry Emmanuel and Victor Anene Udoka: the right to be free from arbitrary detention; the right freedom from torture and ill-treatment, and the right to due process of law.”
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In the complaint dated 25 May, 2021 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: “The detention of Larry Emmanuel and Victor Anene Udoka constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of their liberty because it does not have any legal justification. The detention also does not meet minimum international standards of due process.”
SERAP is calling on the Working Group to “initiate a procedure involving the investigation of the cases of Larry Emmanuel and Victor Anene Udoka, and urgently send an allegation letter to the Nigerian and Kogi state authorities inquiring about the case generally, and specifically about the legal basis for their arrest, detention, and ill-treatment, each of which is in violation of international law.”
SERAP is also urging the Working Group to “issue an opinion declaring that Larry Emmanuel and Victor Anene Udoka’s deprivation of liberty and detention is arbitrary and in violation of Nigeria’s Constitution and obligations under international law. We also urge the Working Group to call for the immediate release of Larry Emmanuel and Victor Anene Udoka.”
SERAP said, “We urge the Working Group to request the Nigerian and Kogi state authorities to investigate and hold accountable all persons responsible for the unlawful arrest, continued detention, and ill-treatment of Larry Emmanuel and Victor Anene Udoka in Kogi state.”
SERAP is also calling on the Working Group “to request the Nigerian and Kogi state authorities to award Larry Emmanuel and Victor Anene Udoka adequate compensation for the violations they have endured as a result of their unlawful arrest, arbitrary detention, and ill-treatment.”
