Dakar, Senegal — A European aid worker arrested two months ago in the Central African Republic on espionage charges has started a hunger strike to protest his detention conditions, his family and Portugal’s honorary consul told The Associated Press.
Martin Joseph Figueira, a consultant for the American NGO FHI 360, was arrested in May, according to the Central African Republic prosecutor’s office. He is accused of having been in contact with armed groups to foment a coup and endanger national security, but he has not yet been formally charged.
Figueira was initially held in “relatively good conditions,” Victor Manuel Alves da Rocha, Portugal’s honorary consul in Bangui, said in a phone call. But about a week ago, Figueira was transferred to a political prison called Camp de Roux, located at the army headquarters in Bangui, where conditions are “very difficult,” da Rocha said.
“He started a hunger strike three days ago because he is innocent and he wants to prove his innocence,” da Rocha said. “He also wants to protest the poor conditions of his detention.”
According to da Rocha, Figueira refuses the food brought daily by a representative of the Belgian consul and is “weak.”
Figueira’s brother, Georges Martin, confirmed to the AP that his brother began a hunger strike on July 14 “to protest what is happening to him.”
Georges Martin issued a statement earlier this month calling the accusations against his brother false and a “manifest injustice.” He added that his brother was a “fervent defender of peace.”
Central African authorities could not immediately be contacted.
FHI 360, a public health organization that manages projects related to family planning and reproductive health, has confirmed that one of its workers is in detention in the Central African Republic.
In a statement released this week, FHI 360 said Figueira was arrested on May 26. He had come to the country to “support the design of a project aimed at reducing poverty, increasing economic opportunity, and preventing gender-based violence. The allegations against Mr. Martin are inconsistent with the facts surrounding his visit or the work of FHI 360.”
The statement called this a “very difficult” time for Figueira and called for a “swift resolution” that would allow him to return to his family, adding: “We are confident that the government of the Central African Republic will respect due process in this case as well as Mr. Martin’s other legal rights.”
Figueira was arrested in Zemio, a town in southeastern Central African Republic that has been plagued by fighting between ethnic militias and anti-government rebels for more than a decade.
After his arrest, the army was deployed to Zemio, after more than six years of absence from the city. The Russian mercenary group Wagner, present for years in the Central African Republic, was also deployed there at the same time to train local militias and recruit them for the army.
The Central African Republic has been in conflict since 2013, when predominantly Muslim rebels seized power and forced then-president François Bozizé from office. Mostly Christian militias fought back. A 2019 peace deal helped slow the fighting, but six of the 14 armed groups that signed the agreement later left the deal.
A UN peacekeeping mission and Rwandan troops are currently deployed in the Central African Republic to try to end the violence and protect civilians.
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Associated Press journalist Mark Banchereau contributed reporting from Dakar, Senegal.
