Gabon's former first lady Sylvia Bongo and son Noureddin given jail terms for corruption

They were not in court and have described the charges against them as “a legal farce”.

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On Tuesday night, Sylvia Bongo and Noureddin Bongo were found guilty of embezzlement and corruption after a trial that began a day earlier. They were not present.

They were both fined 100m CFA francs ($177,000; £135,000), with Noureddin ordered to pay an extra 1.2tn CFA francs ($2.1; £1.6bn) for financial damages suffered by the Gabonese state.

They were accused of exploiting Ali Bongo's condition after he suffered a stroke in 2018 to run Gabon for their own personal profit. They denied the charges ahead of their trial, describing it as "a legal farce."

Ali Bongo was ousted in an August 2023 coup led by Brice Oligui Nguema, who has since shed his military uniform and was elected president earlier this year.