Case of Joseph Figueira Martin in the Central African Republic

In this non-legislative resolution, Parliament takes up the case of Joseph Figueira Martin, a dual Belgian-Portuguese humanitarian researcher who it says was kidnapped in the Central African Republic in May 2024 by the Wagner Group, detained in inhumane conditions and tortured, and sentenced in November 2025 to 10 years of forced labour. The text demands that the CAR authorities immediately and unconditionally release Mr Martin, urges them to authorise his medical evacuation and to guarantee access to medical care, legal counsel, consular assistance and family visits, and insists that any judicial proceedings comply with due process guarantees. It calls on the Commission, the VP/HR and the Council, in coordination with Belgium and Portugal, to impose targeted sanctions on those responsible should the authorities persist, reiterates its call on the Council to list the Wagner Group as a terrorist organisation, and calls for an ad hoc parliamentary mission to the CAR. The resolution was adopted on 22 January 2026.