Gabon court sentences former first lady and president's son to 20 years in prison

Gabon's former first lady and her son were sentenced in absentia by a special criminal court to 20 years in prison following a two-day trial in Libreville. Sylvia Bongo and Noureddin Bongo Valentin were convicted of concealment and embezzlement of public funds, money laundering, criminal association and forgery. Valentin said the verdict had long been “predetermined" under the office of President Oligui Nguema and called the trial a “simple formality."