Cameroon on Monday is marking five years since protests organised by the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) were violently repressed by the authorities. More than 500 people were arbitrarily arrested, 36 of whom remain in jail. As the country gears up for presidential elections, human rights group Amnesty International is calling for their release.
On 22 September 2020, the opposition party had called for peaceful demonstrations to promote national dialogue, reform of the electoral system, and an end to the conflict in the English-speaking regions.
However, 36 opposition supporters remain in detention in Kondengui prison in Yaoundé, after being sentenced by a military court to between five and seven years' imprisonment.
They were found guilty of "rebellion" or "attempted insurrection" against the state.
Some of those arrested are now nearing the end of their sentences, while others will have to wait several more years, such as Alain Fogué, treasurer of the MRC, or Olivier Bibou Nissack, spokesperson for the opposition leader Maurice Kamto.
Amnesty International has condemned these arbitrary detentions. Fabien Offner, researcher at Amnesty International's regional office for West and Central Africa, calls for their release.
"Unfortunately, there has been no change in recent years with regard to respect for fundamental rights," Offner told RFI.
"This is despite calls from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and an alarming report from the Committee Against Torture on what is happening in prisons, police stations and gendarmeries in Cameroon."
Arbitrary arrests
"The Cameroonian authorities must immediately release 36 opposition supporters arbitrarily detained for five years for exercising their right to peaceful assembly and put an end to arbitrary detention in the country," Amnesty said on the fifth anniversary of their arrest.
They "have committed no crime other than to express their opinion," Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International's Regional Director for West and Central Africa said.
The NGO also pointed about that trying civilians in military courts is "incompatible with the right to a fair trial and therefore in violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights."
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Among the 36, one has suffered three strokes but has not been released on medical grounds despite requests, according to the lawyer Hippolyte Meli Tiakouang, coordinator of a collective defending detained opposition supporters.
Thirty-six appeals have been lodged since 2022 with the Supreme Court of Cameroon, which has not yet ruled on any of them.
"The delays are unreasonable," said lawyer Tiakouang. "One might think that the judiciary drags things out so that the sentences handed down will be carried out."
On 4 November 2022, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention published a report which found that the detention of 15 of the MRC leaders and activists was arbitrary.
"We are deeply disappointed that the authorities have failed to recognise the arbitrary nature of the ongoing detention of these protesters," Sivieude said.
Rising fears ahead of election
The presidential election will take place in Cameroon on 12 October, with President Paul Biya running for an eighth term.
Biya, 92, has been in power in Cameroon for nearly 43 years, will face 11 other candidates, as the opposition didn't manage to present a united front.
In July, Cameroon's electoral commission barred Kamto because he was running under the banner of the MANIDEM party, which also supported a second candidate.
At the start of this month, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) voiced concern at restrictions on Cameroon's "civic space" as the election nears and also expressed fears about the voters' ability to freely express their choice.
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On 4 August, at least 54 MRC supporters were arrested next to the Constitutional Council in Yaoundé during pre-election dispute hearings, according to Tiakouang. All of them are now on bail.
Twenty-three are facing prosecution for allegedly inciting revolt and disturbing public order, and if convicted face several years in prison.
Amnesty's Marceau Sivieude says the arrests point to "an alarming crackdown on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in Cameroon" and that the charges should be dropped.
He says the alarming trend is only likely to intensify as the elections get closer.
"In recent years, anyone who dares criticise the authorities, whether a human rights defender, a journalist, a political activist or a protester, runs the risk of being arbitrarily arrested and detained, tortured or otherwise ill-treated, and tried by military courts. Unfortunately, this trend increases as the presidential election approaches. This travesty of justice must end," he says.
