Activists Abass Abdoul Aziz Tanko, Abdoulaye Harouna, Djibo Issa were arrested on 30 October 2017, the day after a demonstration dispersed by security forces. Placed under a committal order on 2 November, they were charged with participation in a prohibited demonstration, armed assembly, theft and complicity in theft.

The demonstration was organised by a group of civil society organisations to protest against the 2018 Finance Bill. The collective had called on Abass Abdoul Aziz Tanko - president of the Association for the Defence of the Rights of Consumers of Information, Communication and Energy Technologies (ACTICE) - and Abdoulaye Harouna and Djibo Issa to draft, sign and lodge a declaration of demonstration with Niamey town hall.

On the day of the rally, a group of demonstrators began shouting insults and inciting a march towards the Place de la Concertation. According to information obtained by Amnesty International, Abass Abdoul Aziz Tanko took the floor to relieve the organisers of responsibility for ‘anything that might happen’. The demonstration was eventually dispersed by the security forces, who used tear gas. The ACTICE association was also dissolved the next day and banned from all activities throughout the country by an order issued by the Minister of the Interior. According to information obtained by Amnesty International from their lawyer, none of the three activists arrested had called for or taken part in the violence.

Around twenty people, including six minors, were arrested on the day of the demonstration. They will also be tried in flagrante delicto on 10 November.

On 17 November 2017, the prosecutor requested 5 years' imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 CFA francs (approximately €150) each. On 30 October 2017, the Ministry of the Interior issued an order banning the organisation from operating on national territory (see Appendix 5). On the evening of 24 November 2017, the judge at the Niamey High Court ruled that the charges had not been established and ordered the release of the three activists and the return of all their property. The prosecutor refused and appealed. The case has been before the Court of Appeal ever since, with charges still pending against them. Despite a request, the Constitutional Court refused to rule on the case.