African pan-Africanism activist Kemi Seba has been released without charge from French custody, two days after his arrest, prosecutors announced on Thursday.
Pan-African activist Kemi Seba, whose real name is Stellio Gilles Robert Capo Chichi, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of “foreign interference” in French affairs, prosecutors said.
The activist has been convicted several times in France for inciting racial hatred and is often accused of anti-Semitism.
His French citizenship was revoked in July.
Prosecutors announced that he was released without charge on Wednesday, but a preliminary investigation into possible “foreign interference” was ongoing.
Kemi Seba’s lawyer, Juan Blanco, protested the arrest, saying it was part of an investigation into “the exchange of intelligence involving foreign powers” with the aim of “inciting hostile acts and acts of aggression against France”.
Anyone convicted on such charges risks up to 30 years in prison, Blanco said.
Kemi Seba is also being investigated for allegedly passing intelligence information to foreign powers “of a nature that is detrimental to the fundamental interests of the state”, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Helly Djehuty, coordinator of Urgenses Panafrikaniste, a non-governmental organisation of which Seba is president, was also arrested and released at the same time.
Pan-Africanism is a global movement that seeks solidarity, and even political union, among all indigenous peoples of African descent. He is cited as a factor in the struggle of African independence movements against colonial powers, including France.
Sebba, who was traveling from Niger on a diplomatic passport, had come to France to visit his sick father, Blanco said.
The street arrest was “violent” and the motive was “the criminalization of political opponents and intellectuals,” his lawyer said. “This is an extremely worrying situation.”
In Africa, Kemi Seba has taken part in protests against the CFA franc, a currency system used by 14 countries but controlled in part by France, which opponents describe as neo-colonial.
Born in France to parents from Benin, Kemi Seba was accused last year by French MP Thomas Gassilou, then chairman of the National Assembly’s Defense Committee, of being a mouthpiece for “Russian propaganda” and “supporting foreign forces serving Russian interests” and inciting anti-French sentiment.