Mr Marc Ona Essangui, Mr Georges Mpaga, Mr Gregory Ngoua Minsta, and Mr Gaston Asseko, arrested on 31 December 2008, have been released on bail on 12 January 2009. The fifth human rights defender arrested in December, Mr Dieudonne Koungou, had already been released the previous week. The charges of 'detention of 'possession of a document for dissemination for the purpose of propaganda’ and ‘oral or written propaganda for incitement of rebellion against state authorities’ remain pending.

The five defenders were arrested on 31 December 2008, held in preventive detention, without access to legal representation, beyond the maximum duration provided by law. They were then charged with 'detention of 'possession of a document for dissemination for the purpose of propaganda’ and ‘oral or written propaganda for incitement of rebellion against state authorities’. It is reported that the charges were brought in connection with an open letter published in France criticising the President of Gabon for his management of public assets.

Mr Marc Ona Essangui is the national coordinator of Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Gabon; Mr Georges Mpaga is the president of the Réseau des organisations libres de la société civile pour la bonne gouvernance au Gabon – ROLBG (Gabonese civil society network for good governance); Mr Gregory Ngoua Minsta is a public servant and plaintiff in a civil complaint lodged in Paris calling for an investigation into the assets acquired in France by the President of Gabon; Mr Gaston Asseko is technical director of Radio Saint-Marie; Mr Dieudonne Koungou is a journalist with the private magazine Tendance Gabon.