at the request of some "putschists". He stated that the French intervention was an illegal act of interference, an assertion that Gondjout and Jean Mare Ekoh, a former education minister, shared. On 9 September, the judge came to a verdict without consulting M'ba. Aubame was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor and 10 years of exile on a remote island off Settecama, down the coast of Gabon, as were most criminals of the case. He was not particularly popular during his political career, though according to Time, his arrest "ballooned him to heroic proportions in the eyes of the aroused public". While serving his 10 years of labor, he was beaten regularly by prison guards. Besides Aubame, M'ba imprisoned more than 150 of his opponents, most of whom were sentenced to 20 years of hard labor. The actor and the doctor were given 10 years of imprisonment each. While appealing for peace on 18 February, he pledged "no pardon or pity" to his enemies, but rather "total punishment". Later life M'ba's successor as President, Omar Bongo, allowed the return of Aubame to Gabon in 1972. Afterward, Aubame lived in Paris and removed himself from the world of politics. He did visit Libreville in 1981, on which occasion Bongo appointed him "special adviser"—a mostly honorary post. Although not a supporter of the Movement for National Renewal (MORENA), his home was bombed on 12 December 1984 by anti-MORENA extremists. Aubame and his family barely escaped harm. Aubame, whom journalist Ronald Matthews described as having "a curiously harsh voice, a severe appearance, and... a stern character", died in 1989 in Libreville. The French journalist Pierre Péan said that Aubame's training "as a practicing Catholic and a customs official helped to make him an integrated man, one of whom political power was not an end in itself." Michael C. Reed speculates that, had Aubame become president instead of M'ba, he might have made the country more democratic. After his death, a Libreville high school was established in his name. Awards and decorations Médaille de la Résistance Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur l'Étoile équatoriale (Gabon) l'Étoile africaine (Libéria) l'Ordre libérien de la Rédemption africaine l'Ordre national du Mérite du Niger l'Ordre national du Mérite centrafricain l'Ordre national du Mérite de Côte-d'Ivoire l'Ordre national du Tchad l'Étoile noire du Bénin Notes References . . . . . . . . 1912 births 1989 deaths People