*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*
BHRC trial observers report multiple violations of fair trial rights by Cameroon
LONDON, 24 MAY: A new trial observation report by the Bar Human Rights Committee has revealed numerous violations of international law and fair trial protections during Cameroon’s ongoing prosecution of 28 people.
BHRC trial observer Jodie Blackstock attended the hearings of Felix Agbor-Balla, Fontem Neba and Mancho Bibixy in April 2017. Mr Agbor-Balla is a barrister, Mr Neba an academic and Mr Bibixy a journalist; all three appear to have been arrested in connection with peaceful protests against the imposition of French-speaking judges and the French civil law system on Cameroon’s English-speaking minority, in areas governed by Anglophone common law.
These cases had previously been joined with 25 other accused, including teachers and other members of the public who attended the protests. Charges against these additional accused remain unknown. Messrs. Agbor-Balla, Neba and Bibixy face charges related to terrorism and crimes against the state, several of which carry the death penalty.
In its report, BHRC identifies a number of serious breaches of the defendants’ fundamental rights to due process and a fair trial, including:
- The use of military tribunals (despite the charges listed not falling under military law), violating the right to an independent and impartial trial.
- Broadly-defined and imprecise charges, which do not specify which actions by the accused are considered to constitute criminal offences.
- A lack of information given to the accused as to the nature of the allegations against them, or access to prosecution case files, in clear breach of their fair trial rights
- Allegations by several of the 25 additional accused that they have been mistreated by police while in custody, and denied access to legal assistance.
- Ongoing pre-trial detention since January 2017, with no decision made by the court on its lawfulness or the possibility of bail.
BHRC Chairperson Kirsty Brimelow QC said:
“Charging peaceful protestors breaches basic tenets of Cameroon’s international law obligations as well as its Constitution.
If it transpires that laws designed for terrorist atrocities have been used to detain peaceful protestors, it is an abuse of those laws, and of the right to peaceful protest. Denying detainees meaningful access to lawyers, or to the purported evidence supporting allegations against them, also breaches their legal rights and protections.
BHRC calls upon the State Prosecutor to urgently review the charges in these cases: due process and fair trial rights must be applied. Whilst charges are reviewed, all detainees should be released from custody or reasons for their detention examined and argued in full bail hearings.”
Read the full BHRC report here.
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