Cameroon - Anglophone Crisis - Are Anglophone Leaders Abandoned?

The positions taken with a view to their release are becoming more and more rare, lawyers have abandoned the courtrooms ... The wear and te...

The positions taken with a view to their release are becoming more and more rare, lawyers have abandoned the courtrooms ... The wear and tear of time seems to have its effect.

Mobilization weakens around the English-speaking leaders incarcerated in the context of the eponymous crisis. The finding is contained in La Nouvelle Expression (ESA) published on 1 st August 2017. This is the reporter of the newspaper, was marked by the reduced number of people present at the hearing of 27 July. The description is striking.

"Courtroom of the Military Court of Yaounde, it is 11:42 minutes when the president of collegiality, Colonel Mbezoa, wife Eko Eko , declares the opening of the hearing. In the semi-dark room, the dozen benches reserved for the public, is not yet fully occupied. Barely fifty people are seated. Within this population, a dozen people are distinguished by their black dress and their wig, " reads.

An atmosphere that contrasts with that of the beginning of the trial. "... if one glances back, including 1 st and 13 February, 23 March and 7 April 2017, the atmosphere was more noisy. Indeed, on those days, the lawyers who traveled for that jurisdiction were estimated at more than a hundred. For these occasions, the rear doors of the building had been opened. The benches added had proved inadequate. Dozens of people are even able to find a place on the floor or in the aisles of the room, " adds the author of the article.

What is the explanation for this weak mobilization of lawyers since at least three hearings? Mr. Emmanuel Simh , a defense lawyer, thinks that the multiple referrals are there for something. "The lawyers who are constituted come for a share of the Southwest and Northwest, Littoral. Areas that are far from the theater of operations here in Yaounde. And so, as the file gets stuck, there are several referrals, it's not easy to get them to the various hearings. And when you know that the lawyers in the Southwest and North West have been on strike for a very long time, objectively, they do not always have all the means to come to the hearings, " explained the lawyer at the Bar of Cameroon.

In addition to the demobilization of lawyers, positions on the release of Anglophone leaders are becoming increasingly scarce. Politicians and civil society actors have been rather discreet about the issue for weeks. LNE quotes Maurice Kamto , the MRC president, Ni John Fru Ndi of the SDF, Edith Kah Walla of the CPP, and Maximilienne Ngo Mbe , executive director of the Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa. All mobilized at the start, but less visible today.

As a reminder, 27 people are tried in the military court following the anglophone crisis. More charges brought against them include: hostility against the partrie, rebellion or coercions of terrorism. The matter was referred to August 31, 2017.

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