 He argued that the French intervention was effectively an illegal act of interference; a belief shared by both Gondjout and the former education minister, Jean Mare Ekoh.On 9 September, without consulting M'ba, Leon Auge handed down a verdict acquitting both Ekoh and Gondjout of all charges.Little is known of Goundjout's life between his 1966 acquittal and death on 1 July 1990, in Libreville.