AMNESTY International on Wednesday dismissed harsh criticism and threats of legal action from Togo over the human rights group’s claims of large-scale atrocities in the west African state. “We see no problem in taking the debate into a public forum, even a court of law,” said Amnesty’s spokesman for Africa Olivier Jacoulet. Earlier on Wednesday, the Togolese government said it would sue Amnesty over its claims that the Lome regime was responsible for hundreds of political killings and disturbances. The report said that repression and violence had become particularly rampant during the last two elections in Togo and that after a presidential poll in June, “hundreds of people, including members of the military, were killed by the security forces. Corpses washed up on the beaches of Togo and neighboring Benin for days afterwards.”