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{"id":39509,"date":"2022-02-28T02:29:45","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T02:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/?p=39509"},"modified":"2022-02-28T02:29:45","modified_gmt":"2022-02-28T02:29:45","slug":"a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/2022\/02\/28\/a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition\/","title":{"rendered":"A top court in Gabon has dismissed a bid by opposition figures for a medical assessment of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who suffered a stroke more than three years ago. The group had filed a petition demanding that Bongo be tested to see whether he was fit to exercise his duties. But the Court of Cassation, the country’s highest judicial body, on Friday rejected a 2020 decision by the Court of Appeal, which had authorised an ordinary court to rule on the request. Instead, the top court determined that a common-law court has no competence to rule on the head of state, according to the decision seen by AFP. Bongo, 63, the son of veteran former ruler Omar Bongo, suffered a stroke while on a trip to Saudi Arabia in October 2018. He needed months of convalescence abroad, and his long absences sparked speculation about his fitness to govern and fears about a vacuum of power. After slowly returning to the public eye, he has recently stepped up official activities, making live speeches and attending summits abroad, although he still needs to walk leaning on a stick or the arm of an aide. Bongo’s entourage say he intends to seek the candidacy of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) for the August 2023 presidential elections. The petition was filed in 2019 by Appel a Agir (Call to Act), a group gathering 10 figures in civil society and politics in the central African state. “The Court of Cassation has just brought the final curtain down on this judicial rumour-mongering orchestrated by Appel a Agir,” said Bongo’s lawyer, Aimery Bhongo-Mavoungou. “This ruling opens the way to declaring once and for all that the president is in good shape, and nothing can prevent him from fully exercising his duties, which he does so well at the moment.” Elza-Ritchuelle Boukandou, a lawyer who is a member of Appel a Agir, acknowledged that the group’s legal strategy had now been “definitively rejected”. “However, we will continue to press, before public opinion, for him to prove that his state of health enables him to run the country,” she said. Bongo was elected president in 2009, succeeding his father, who had ruled for 42 years. He was re-elected in 2016 in a vote marked by a wave of deadly violence after the result was announced. gir\/dyg\/ayv\/ri\/ah"},"content":{"rendered":"At least one Zimbabwean opposition activist was killed and 17 others were hospitalised on Sunday after violence broke out during a rally, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) announced.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, a police spokesperson could not be reached immediately to confirm the claim.<\/p>\n
Thousands of activists had gathered in the central city of Kwekwe to listen to a speech by party leader Nelson Chamisa, the main opponent of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his ZANU-PF party, in power since independence, according to an AFP photographer.<\/p>\n
More than a dozen men, suspected of being ZANU-PF militants, got out of a pick-up truck and initiated violence on the sidelines of the rally, noted the photographer, claiming that an elderly gentleman had his leg broken in a stampede.<\/p>\n
Footage circulating on social media showed them throwing rocks at the crowd.\u00a0Witnesses also said they used iron bars and machetes to attack CCC members.<\/p>\n
The clashes continued, forcing Chamisa to interrupt his speech, a month before by-elections perceived as a test poll ahead of next year’s general elections.<\/p>\n
The local Red Cross has also taken care of dozens of injured activists.<\/p>\n
The events come a day after the country’s vice president Constantino Chiwenga said the ruling party would “crush” the opposition, fuelling fears of a new wave of state-sponsored violence.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, the police used violence to disperse hundreds of opponents in Gokwe, some 140 kilometres (87 miles) away from Kwekwe, on the pretext that they lacked the personnel to supervise the rally properly.<\/p>\n
“We condemn the unbridled violence,” CCC spokeswoman Fadzayi Mahere told AFP on Sunday.<\/p>\n
“We demand an end to the political persecution and incitement of senior ZANU leaders who threatened that they will ‘crush CCC like lice’. This is not acceptable in a democracy.”<\/p>\n
President Mnangagwa, successor in 2017 to Robert Mugabe who reigned with an iron fist for 37 years, is often accused of wanting to muzzle any opposition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At least one Zimbabwean opposition activist was killed and 17 others were hospitalised on Sunday after violence broke out during a rally, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) announced. However, a police spokesperson could not be reached immediately to confirm the claim. Thousands of activists had gathered in the central city of Kwekwe to listen to a speech by party leader Nelson Chamisa, the main opponent of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his ZANU-PF party, in power since independence, according to an AFP photographer. More than a dozen men, suspected of being ZANU-PF militants, got out of a pick-up truck […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567,562],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news","category-yeswecantv-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
A top court in Gabon has dismissed a bid by opposition figures for a medical assessment of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who suffered a stroke more than three years ago. The group had filed a petition demanding that Bongo be tested to see whether he was fit to exercise his duties. But the Court of Cassation, the country's highest judicial body, on Friday rejected a 2020 decision by the Court of Appeal, which had authorised an ordinary court to rule on the request. Instead, the top court determined that a common-law court has no competence to rule on the head of state, according to the decision seen by AFP. Bongo, 63, the son of veteran former ruler Omar Bongo, suffered a stroke while on a trip to Saudi Arabia in October 2018. He needed months of convalescence abroad, and his long absences sparked speculation about his fitness to govern and fears about a vacuum of power. After slowly returning to the public eye, he has recently stepped up official activities, making live speeches and attending summits abroad, although he still needs to walk leaning on a stick or the arm of an aide. Bongo's entourage say he intends to seek the candidacy of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) for the August 2023 presidential elections. The petition was filed in 2019 by Appel a Agir (Call to Act), a group gathering 10 figures in civil society and politics in the central African state. "The Court of Cassation has just brought the final curtain down on this judicial rumour-mongering orchestrated by Appel a Agir," said Bongo's lawyer, Aimery Bhongo-Mavoungou. "This ruling opens the way to declaring once and for all that the president is in good shape, and nothing can prevent him from fully exercising his duties, which he does so well at the moment." Elza-Ritchuelle Boukandou, a lawyer who is a member of Appel a Agir, acknowledged that the group's legal strategy had now been "definitively rejected". "However, we will continue to press, before public opinion, for him to prove that his state of health enables him to run the country," she said. Bongo was elected president in 2009, succeeding his father, who had ruled for 42 years. He was re-elected in 2016 in a vote marked by a wave of deadly violence after the result was announced. gir\/dyg\/ayv\/ri\/ah - Yes We Can TV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/2022\/02\/28\/a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A top court in Gabon has dismissed a bid by opposition figures for a medical assessment of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who suffered a stroke more than three years ago. The group had filed a petition demanding that Bongo be tested to see whether he was fit to exercise his duties. But the Court of Cassation, the country's highest judicial body, on Friday rejected a 2020 decision by the Court of Appeal, which had authorised an ordinary court to rule on the request. Instead, the top court determined that a common-law court has no competence to rule on the head of state, according to the decision seen by AFP. Bongo, 63, the son of veteran former ruler Omar Bongo, suffered a stroke while on a trip to Saudi Arabia in October 2018. He needed months of convalescence abroad, and his long absences sparked speculation about his fitness to govern and fears about a vacuum of power. After slowly returning to the public eye, he has recently stepped up official activities, making live speeches and attending summits abroad, although he still needs to walk leaning on a stick or the arm of an aide. Bongo's entourage say he intends to seek the candidacy of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) for the August 2023 presidential elections. The petition was filed in 2019 by Appel a Agir (Call to Act), a group gathering 10 figures in civil society and politics in the central African state. "The Court of Cassation has just brought the final curtain down on this judicial rumour-mongering orchestrated by Appel a Agir," said Bongo's lawyer, Aimery Bhongo-Mavoungou. "This ruling opens the way to declaring once and for all that the president is in good shape, and nothing can prevent him from fully exercising his duties, which he does so well at the moment." Elza-Ritchuelle Boukandou, a lawyer who is a member of Appel a Agir, acknowledged that the group's legal strategy had now been "definitively rejected". "However, we will continue to press, before public opinion, for him to prove that his state of health enables him to run the country," she said. Bongo was elected president in 2009, succeeding his father, who had ruled for 42 years. He was re-elected in 2016 in a vote marked by a wave of deadly violence after the result was announced. gir\/dyg\/ayv\/ri\/ah - Yes We Can TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At least one Zimbabwean opposition activist was killed and 17 others were hospitalised on Sunday after violence broke out during a rally, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) announced. However, a police spokesperson could not be reached immediately to confirm the claim. Thousands of activists had gathered in the central city of Kwekwe to listen to a speech by party leader Nelson Chamisa, the main opponent of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his ZANU-PF party, in power since independence, according to an AFP photographer. More than a dozen men, suspected of being ZANU-PF militants, got out of a pick-up truck […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/2022\/02\/28\/a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Yes We Can TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-28T02:29:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/urn_newsml_afp.com_20220227_9386d376-1b12-44d1-a5e4-8b8b1faef8e5_ipad.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"682\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"YesWeCanTV\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"YesWeCanTV\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/2022\/02\/28\/a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/2022\/02\/28\/a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition\/\",\"name\":\"A top court in Gabon has dismissed a bid by opposition figures for a medical assessment of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who suffered a stroke more than three years ago. The group had filed a petition demanding that Bongo be tested to see whether he was fit to exercise his duties. But the Court of Cassation, the country's highest judicial body, on Friday rejected a 2020 decision by the Court of Appeal, which had authorised an ordinary court to rule on the request. Instead, the top court determined that a common-law court has no competence to rule on the head of state, according to the decision seen by AFP. Bongo, 63, the son of veteran former ruler Omar Bongo, suffered a stroke while on a trip to Saudi Arabia in October 2018. He needed months of convalescence abroad, and his long absences sparked speculation about his fitness to govern and fears about a vacuum of power. After slowly returning to the public eye, he has recently stepped up official activities, making live speeches and attending summits abroad, although he still needs to walk leaning on a stick or the arm of an aide. Bongo's entourage say he intends to seek the candidacy of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) for the August 2023 presidential elections. The petition was filed in 2019 by Appel a Agir (Call to Act), a group gathering 10 figures in civil society and politics in the central African state. \\\"The Court of Cassation has just brought the final curtain down on this judicial rumour-mongering orchestrated by Appel a Agir,\\\" said Bongo's lawyer, Aimery Bhongo-Mavoungou. \\\"This ruling opens the way to declaring once and for all that the president is in good shape, and nothing can prevent him from fully exercising his duties, which he does so well at the moment.\\\" Elza-Ritchuelle Boukandou, a lawyer who is a member of Appel a Agir, acknowledged that the group's legal strategy had now been \\\"definitively rejected\\\". \\\"However, we will continue to press, before public opinion, for him to prove that his state of health enables him to run the country,\\\" she said. 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The group had filed a petition demanding that Bongo be tested to see whether he was fit to exercise his duties. But the Court of Cassation, the country’s highest judicial body, on Friday rejected a 2020 decision by the Court of Appeal, which had authorised an ordinary court to rule on the request. Instead, the top court determined that a common-law court has no competence to rule on the head of state, according to the decision seen by AFP. Bongo, 63, the son of veteran former ruler Omar Bongo, suffered a stroke while on a trip to Saudi Arabia in October 2018. He needed months of convalescence abroad, and his long absences sparked speculation about his fitness to govern and fears about a vacuum of power. After slowly returning to the public eye, he has recently stepped up official activities, making live speeches and attending summits abroad, although he still needs to walk leaning on a stick or the arm of an aide. Bongo’s entourage say he intends to seek the candidacy of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) for the August 2023 presidential elections. The petition was filed in 2019 by Appel a Agir (Call to Act), a group gathering 10 figures in civil society and politics in the central African state. “The Court of Cassation has just brought the final curtain down on this judicial rumour-mongering orchestrated by Appel a Agir,” said Bongo’s lawyer, Aimery Bhongo-Mavoungou. “This ruling opens the way to declaring once and for all that the president is in good shape, and nothing can prevent him from fully exercising his duties, which he does so well at the moment.” Elza-Ritchuelle Boukandou, a lawyer who is a member of Appel a Agir, acknowledged that the group’s legal strategy had now been “definitively rejected”. “However, we will continue to press, before public opinion, for him to prove that his state of health enables him to run the country,” she said. Bongo was elected president in 2009, succeeding his father, who had ruled for 42 years. He was re-elected in 2016 in a vote marked by a wave of deadly violence after the result was announced. gir\/dyg\/ayv\/ri\/ah\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/\",\"name\":\"Yes We Can TV\",\"description\":\"Breaking News, Videos, Images - Yes We Can TV News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bef9644ae8898c5618096ff58528012f\",\"name\":\"YesWeCanTV\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef4435be93b8315ace75199fb56cab9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef4435be93b8315ace75199fb56cab9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"YesWeCanTV\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/yeswecantv.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/author\/cousinz1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A top court in Gabon has dismissed a bid by opposition figures for a medical assessment of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who suffered a stroke more than three years ago. The group had filed a petition demanding that Bongo be tested to see whether he was fit to exercise his duties. But the Court of Cassation, the country's highest judicial body, on Friday rejected a 2020 decision by the Court of Appeal, which had authorised an ordinary court to rule on the request. Instead, the top court determined that a common-law court has no competence to rule on the head of state, according to the decision seen by AFP. Bongo, 63, the son of veteran former ruler Omar Bongo, suffered a stroke while on a trip to Saudi Arabia in October 2018. He needed months of convalescence abroad, and his long absences sparked speculation about his fitness to govern and fears about a vacuum of power. After slowly returning to the public eye, he has recently stepped up official activities, making live speeches and attending summits abroad, although he still needs to walk leaning on a stick or the arm of an aide. Bongo's entourage say he intends to seek the candidacy of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) for the August 2023 presidential elections. The petition was filed in 2019 by Appel a Agir (Call to Act), a group gathering 10 figures in civil society and politics in the central African state. \"The Court of Cassation has just brought the final curtain down on this judicial rumour-mongering orchestrated by Appel a Agir,\" said Bongo's lawyer, Aimery Bhongo-Mavoungou. \"This ruling opens the way to declaring once and for all that the president is in good shape, and nothing can prevent him from fully exercising his duties, which he does so well at the moment.\" Elza-Ritchuelle Boukandou, a lawyer who is a member of Appel a Agir, acknowledged that the group's legal strategy had now been \"definitively rejected\". \"However, we will continue to press, before public opinion, for him to prove that his state of health enables him to run the country,\" she said. Bongo was elected president in 2009, succeeding his father, who had ruled for 42 years. He was re-elected in 2016 in a vote marked by a wave of deadly violence after the result was announced. gir\/dyg\/ayv\/ri\/ah - Yes We Can TV","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/2022\/02\/28\/a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A top court in Gabon has dismissed a bid by opposition figures for a medical assessment of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who suffered a stroke more than three years ago. The group had filed a petition demanding that Bongo be tested to see whether he was fit to exercise his duties. But the Court of Cassation, the country's highest judicial body, on Friday rejected a 2020 decision by the Court of Appeal, which had authorised an ordinary court to rule on the request. Instead, the top court determined that a common-law court has no competence to rule on the head of state, according to the decision seen by AFP. Bongo, 63, the son of veteran former ruler Omar Bongo, suffered a stroke while on a trip to Saudi Arabia in October 2018. He needed months of convalescence abroad, and his long absences sparked speculation about his fitness to govern and fears about a vacuum of power. After slowly returning to the public eye, he has recently stepped up official activities, making live speeches and attending summits abroad, although he still needs to walk leaning on a stick or the arm of an aide. Bongo's entourage say he intends to seek the candidacy of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) for the August 2023 presidential elections. The petition was filed in 2019 by Appel a Agir (Call to Act), a group gathering 10 figures in civil society and politics in the central African state. \"The Court of Cassation has just brought the final curtain down on this judicial rumour-mongering orchestrated by Appel a Agir,\" said Bongo's lawyer, Aimery Bhongo-Mavoungou. \"This ruling opens the way to declaring once and for all that the president is in good shape, and nothing can prevent him from fully exercising his duties, which he does so well at the moment.\" Elza-Ritchuelle Boukandou, a lawyer who is a member of Appel a Agir, acknowledged that the group's legal strategy had now been \"definitively rejected\". \"However, we will continue to press, before public opinion, for him to prove that his state of health enables him to run the country,\" she said. Bongo was elected president in 2009, succeeding his father, who had ruled for 42 years. He was re-elected in 2016 in a vote marked by a wave of deadly violence after the result was announced. gir\/dyg\/ayv\/ri\/ah - Yes We Can TV","og_description":"At least one Zimbabwean opposition activist was killed and 17 others were hospitalised on Sunday after violence broke out during a rally, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) announced. However, a police spokesperson could not be reached immediately to confirm the claim. Thousands of activists had gathered in the central city of Kwekwe to listen to a speech by party leader Nelson Chamisa, the main opponent of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his ZANU-PF party, in power since independence, according to an AFP photographer. More than a dozen men, suspected of being ZANU-PF militants, got out of a pick-up truck […]","og_url":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/2022\/02\/28\/a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition\/","og_site_name":"Yes We Can TV","article_published_time":"2022-02-28T02:29:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":682,"url":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/urn_newsml_afp.com_20220227_9386d376-1b12-44d1-a5e4-8b8b1faef8e5_ipad.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"YesWeCanTV","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"YesWeCanTV","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/2022\/02\/28\/a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition\/","url":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/2022\/02\/28\/a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition\/","name":"A top court in Gabon has dismissed a bid by opposition figures for a medical assessment of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who suffered a stroke more than three years ago. The group had filed a petition demanding that Bongo be tested to see whether he was fit to exercise his duties. But the Court of Cassation, the country's highest judicial body, on Friday rejected a 2020 decision by the Court of Appeal, which had authorised an ordinary court to rule on the request. Instead, the top court determined that a common-law court has no competence to rule on the head of state, according to the decision seen by AFP. Bongo, 63, the son of veteran former ruler Omar Bongo, suffered a stroke while on a trip to Saudi Arabia in October 2018. He needed months of convalescence abroad, and his long absences sparked speculation about his fitness to govern and fears about a vacuum of power. After slowly returning to the public eye, he has recently stepped up official activities, making live speeches and attending summits abroad, although he still needs to walk leaning on a stick or the arm of an aide. Bongo's entourage say he intends to seek the candidacy of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) for the August 2023 presidential elections. The petition was filed in 2019 by Appel a Agir (Call to Act), a group gathering 10 figures in civil society and politics in the central African state. \"The Court of Cassation has just brought the final curtain down on this judicial rumour-mongering orchestrated by Appel a Agir,\" said Bongo's lawyer, Aimery Bhongo-Mavoungou. \"This ruling opens the way to declaring once and for all that the president is in good shape, and nothing can prevent him from fully exercising his duties, which he does so well at the moment.\" Elza-Ritchuelle Boukandou, a lawyer who is a member of Appel a Agir, acknowledged that the group's legal strategy had now been \"definitively rejected\". \"However, we will continue to press, before public opinion, for him to prove that his state of health enables him to run the country,\" she said. Bongo was elected president in 2009, succeeding his father, who had ruled for 42 years. He was re-elected in 2016 in a vote marked by a wave of deadly violence after the result was announced. gir\/dyg\/ayv\/ri\/ah - Yes We Can TV","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/2022\/02\/28\/a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/2022\/02\/28\/a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/urn_newsml_afp.com_20220227_9386d376-1b12-44d1-a5e4-8b8b1faef8e5_ipad.jpg","datePublished":"2022-02-28T02:29:45+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-28T02:29:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bef9644ae8898c5618096ff58528012f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/2022\/02\/28\/a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/2022\/02\/28\/a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/2022\/02\/28\/a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/urn_newsml_afp.com_20220227_9386d376-1b12-44d1-a5e4-8b8b1faef8e5_ipad.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/urn_newsml_afp.com_20220227_9386d376-1b12-44d1-a5e4-8b8b1faef8e5_ipad.jpg","width":1024,"height":682},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/2022\/02\/28\/a-top-court-in-gabon-has-dismissed-a-bid-by-opposition-figures-for-a-medical-assessment-of-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-who-suffered-a-stroke-more-than-three-years-ago-the-group-had-filed-a-petition\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A top court in Gabon has dismissed a bid by opposition figures for a medical assessment of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who suffered a stroke more than three years ago. The group had filed a petition demanding that Bongo be tested to see whether he was fit to exercise his duties. But the Court of Cassation, the country’s highest judicial body, on Friday rejected a 2020 decision by the Court of Appeal, which had authorised an ordinary court to rule on the request. Instead, the top court determined that a common-law court has no competence to rule on the head of state, according to the decision seen by AFP. Bongo, 63, the son of veteran former ruler Omar Bongo, suffered a stroke while on a trip to Saudi Arabia in October 2018. He needed months of convalescence abroad, and his long absences sparked speculation about his fitness to govern and fears about a vacuum of power. After slowly returning to the public eye, he has recently stepped up official activities, making live speeches and attending summits abroad, although he still needs to walk leaning on a stick or the arm of an aide. Bongo’s entourage say he intends to seek the candidacy of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) for the August 2023 presidential elections. The petition was filed in 2019 by Appel a Agir (Call to Act), a group gathering 10 figures in civil society and politics in the central African state. “The Court of Cassation has just brought the final curtain down on this judicial rumour-mongering orchestrated by Appel a Agir,” said Bongo’s lawyer, Aimery Bhongo-Mavoungou. “This ruling opens the way to declaring once and for all that the president is in good shape, and nothing can prevent him from fully exercising his duties, which he does so well at the moment.” Elza-Ritchuelle Boukandou, a lawyer who is a member of Appel a Agir, acknowledged that the group’s legal strategy had now been “definitively rejected”. “However, we will continue to press, before public opinion, for him to prove that his state of health enables him to run the country,” she said. Bongo was elected president in 2009, succeeding his father, who had ruled for 42 years. He was re-elected in 2016 in a vote marked by a wave of deadly violence after the result was announced. gir\/dyg\/ayv\/ri\/ah"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/","name":"Yes We Can TV","description":"Breaking News, Videos, Images - Yes We Can TV News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bef9644ae8898c5618096ff58528012f","name":"YesWeCanTV","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef4435be93b8315ace75199fb56cab9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ef4435be93b8315ace75199fb56cab9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"YesWeCanTV"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/yeswecantv.com"],"url":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/author\/cousinz1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39509"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39511,"href":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39509\/revisions\/39511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yeswecantv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}