Human Rights Watch Calls on Cameroonian authorities to respect people’s right to peaceful demonstration, immediately release those wrongfully held, and investigate law enforcement’s conduct in the 2020 crackdown and treatment of detainees.
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On January 15, 2020, HRW in a statement lamented the ill-treatment of opposition leaders in Cameroon by government authorities. Citing the rejection of legal efforts on January 12 by the Court of Appeal to release Olivier Bibou Nissack and Alain Fogue Tedom, two prominent members of the main opposition party: Cameroon Renaissance Movement. (MRC), the Human Rights entity says it violet their right to freedom of assembly. According to HRW, these persons were arrested in September 2020.
The two political personalities faced politically motivated charges including; attempted revolution, rebellion and unlawful assembly “Nissack and Fogue face politically motivated charges including attempted revolution, rebellion, and unlawful assembly. They were first held in police custody for over a month at the Secrétariat d’Etat à la Défense (SED), in Yaoundé, before being transferred to Yaoundé central prison on November 3 for a six-month pretrial detention period. At SED, they were kept in total isolation, deprived of any reading materials, and frequently denied access to their lawyers.”
On September 22, 2020, many peaceful protesters were arrested across Cameroon. According to HRW, over 500 civilians, mainly MRC members, and supporters were arrested. “Nissack and Fogue were arrested as part of a massive government crackdown on peaceful demonstrations organized by the MRC on September 22 across Cameroon, which included the arrest of over 500 people, mainly MRC members and supporters.”
The arrested persons were also maltreated during and after the arrest which took place on September 22, 2020. “Many peaceful protesters were beaten while being arrested and in detention. “The police beat me with truncheons,” a 39-year-old MRC member arrested in Douala told Human Rights Watch. “I spent nine days at the judicial police jail, sleeping on the floor and without access to my lawyers.”
From the 500 protesters who were arrested, at least 139 are still in detention according to HRW “…Of the over 500 arrested, at least 136 remain in detention, 20 of whom have been convicted and sentenced to prison by civilian courts, according to the MRC’s lawyers.” “In Cameroon’s criminal justice system, habeas corpus requests appear to have lost their value as individuals who are presumed innocent are systematically deprived of their liberty,” Menkem Sother, a lawyer for Nissack said.
HRW while closing the statement urges the Cameroonian authorities to respect rights to peaceful demonstration “Cameroonian authorities should respect people’s right to demonstrate peacefully, immediately release those wrongfully held, and investigate law enforcement’s conduct in the 2020 crackdown and treatment of detainees.”
Berinyuy Cajetan is the founder and publisher of Human Rights and Legal Research Centre (HRLRC) since 2017. He has intensive experience in strategic communications for Civil Society Organizations, campaign and advocacy, and social issues. He has an intensive experiencing in human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting.
