Hughes Bessacque, Brice Obanda, Gervais Amogo, Abdul Allogo Mintsa, and Pascal Nkoulou, five members of the Gabonese opposition party Bongo Doit Partir (BDP), Bongo Must Go (or BDP-Gabon Nouveau), were released on October 1, 2003, after three months of detention. They have been reunited with their families and are generally in good health, although they did suffer some health problems during their imprisonment. They had been charged with threatening state security and insulting the head of state. Most, if not all, of them were released without charge. In a press release BDP-Gabon Nouveau’s leader thanked members of Amnesty International and others for having put pressure on the government, as this was a factor in their release.