Steve Amoussou freed after two-year Benin sentence

Steve Amoussou, a Beninese cyberactivist accused of running an online account critical of the government, was released Thursday after serving a two-year sentence, his lawyer and a relative said.

Amoussou was convicted of "politically motivated insult" and "spreading false news". He has consistently denied being behind the anonymous "Frere Hounvi" account, whose audio messages critical of former president Patrice Talon's government gained a large online following.

His lawyer, Boubacar Baparape, confirmed the release. A relative also said Amoussou was free.

Amoussou was jailed in August 2024 after being arrested in neighbouring Togo and transferred to Benin, in what his lawyers have described as an abduction. His trial opened at the Court for the Repression of Economic Offenses and Terrorism in October 2024. He was sentenced to two years last June, and the verdict was upheld on appeal in December.

His case became one of Benin's most prominent prosecutions of a government critic. Opponents of Talon have accused authorities of increasingly restricting dissent.