Translated from French by an automated online translation service, so please excuse the roughness. See link for original. Thank you to Anne Dillon for both volunteering her time to find these French articles and doing the online translating.
The county court of Mafanco held its correctional audience this Thursday, October 27, 2016, in the case of ivory trafficking recently challenged by Interpol. The Guinean Lamine Loua and Lan Lucien Loua of Ivorian nationality are being prosecuted for the flagrant detention, circulation, and marketing of two pieces of carved ivory. Elephant ivory tusks are derived from a species fully protected by the Guinea Wildlife Code and the Washington Convention (CITES).
In his pleadings, counsel for the plaintiff first outlined the three elements of the offense, namely the moral, material, and legal element. Continuing, he recalled the immense damage caused to the Guinean State by such acts and which even led to the suspension of Guinea to CITES (International Convention on Trade in species of fauna and wild flora threatened with extinction). For him, these doings are provided and punished by the wildlife code in articles 129 and 164. Thus is the demand to retain Messrs Lamine Loua and Ivory Coast Lucien Lan Loua in the bonds of guilt for the crime of detention, circulation, and marketing of two pieces of carved ivory. On the civil action, the lawyer is seeking the payment of an amount of 200,000,000 GNF as compensation to the state for the account of the ministry of the environment.
Taking the floor, the Public Ministry recalled the facts and circumstances of the arrest of the accused. Focusing on the reference code of wildlife in Articles 126, 129, 164 and Article 50 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the emperor asked the prosecution to withhold defendants in the bonds of guilt for acts of circulation, thus excluding those of detention and commercialization of the two pieces of sculpted ivories placed under their charge. For enforcement, he asked for three months’ imprisonment and the payment of 200,000 GNF as amends by each one. Concerning the seized ivory tusks, under seal at the clerk’s office of the TPI of Mafanco, the prosecution requested outright confiscation.
In its defense, the counsel for the accused pleaded guilty and requested a mitigating circumstance in view of the accused’s recognition of the offense. On the other hand, he asked for a reprieve on the grounds that the seized ivory was not endemic to Guinea while requesting provisional release for the detainees.
The hearing judge dismissed the bail request and postponed the hearing until 1 November for further deliberation. Remember that traffic of species is a cross-border trade. It represents the fourth global crime and represents more than 20 million dollars annually