Benin: This 10-year-old girl pleading for Patrice Talon’s mercy for her parents
10-year-old Goudjo Mira, a student in her second year of middle school, has written a poignant letter to President Patrice Talon pleading for the release of her imprisoned parents involved in the “Tiens Ds Com” case since 2022.
Patrice Talon lors de la Célébration du 61ème anniversaire de l’indépendance du Bénin – Honneurs militaires et civilités du Président de la République aux Présidents des Institutions de la République et membres du gouvernement PH: Présidence Bénin
In a letter dated May 8, 2025, and widely shared on social networks these last few days, a 10-year-old student from Benin, Goudjo Mira, makes a desperate appeal to the President of the Republic, Patrice Talon. Her goal is to obtain presidential clemency for her parents, Goudjo Élisée and Agassou Chantal, both convicted by the Court of Repression of Economic Offenses and Terrorism (CRIET) in the context of the so-called Tiens Ds Com case.
With childlike words but heartrending maturity, Mira depicts the nightmare endured by her siblings since July 29, 2022—the day their parents were unexpectedly arrested by the police. Three years of parental absence, emotional deprivation, and marked hardship. “We can hardly eat enough,” she writes, before adding that she and her siblings are often expelled from school for failing to pay tuition.
“I have cried too much”
The handwritten, signed letter is both a sincere plea and a gesture of hope. Aware of the President’s prerogatives, the young girl asserts:
“I know that the president can pardon prisoners and restore their freedom.” Therefore, she implores the president’s clemency to end the pain of a separation she finds unbearable. “I have cried a lot, I have shed too many tears, but now I will not simply stand aside,” she confides.
It remains to be seen whether this frail but powerful voice will touch President Talon’s heart and whether the institutional machinery will take into account this request coming from the depths of a child’s heart.