Prosecutors in Benin have asked for a 20-year jail term against opposition politician Sebastien Ajavon on drugs charges, his lawyer and an AFP reporter in court said on Thursday.
The former presidential candidate and business tycoon, known as the "chicken king" because he made his money in livestock, was not at the hearing in the West African country's administrative capital, Porto-Novo.
His legal team has previously denounced what they said were "serious irregularities" in proceedings and called the allegations "absurd and false".
Ajavon came third in Benin's presidential election in 2016 behind the then-prime minister Lionel Zinsou and the eventual winner, millionaire businessman Patrice Talon.
Ajavon has made no secret of his desire to contest in the next presidential election due in 2021 and has set up his own political party.
But he has complained of being targeted by arrests and prosecutions.
He is charged with "high-risk international drug trafficking" of cocaine worth an estimated $16 million (14 million euros), despite having previously been cleared of any involvement.
State prosecutors pushed judges to impose the maximum sentence at Thursday's hearing, which was held under tight security with police blocking access to protesters.
Ajavon is currently in France and his 10 Paris-based lawyers say they have not been able to examine the case against their client in detail.
They were only notified he had been charged at the first hearing on October 4. The judge has also said no defence will be allowed without Ajavon being physically present in court.
"All the lawyers are gagged, apart from those representing the state," one of Ajavon's legal team, Marc Bensimhon, told reporters angrily.
"What happened (in court) is unacceptable. I've been a lawyer for 34 years and I have never experienced anything like it," he said.
Bensimhon later told AFP by telephone that Ajavon is a regular visitor to Europe and had been in France for three days since he received the summons to appear at Thursday's hearing.
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