Following the deportation and indictment of 151 persons abducted in various cities of Cameroon and deported to Yaoundé as part of the peaceful and white marches organized by the MRC on January 26th, 2019, the investigating judge of the Military Court of Yaoundé placed a total of 131 persons on remand, including 18 women.
The 7 leaders were placed at the Main Prison and the 124 at the Central Prison.The Group of Lawyers in various reports and press releases denounced the flagrant violations of the rights of detainees and the intolerable obstacles to their professional practice.
The Cameroon Renaissance Movement intends, for its part, to alert the national and international community about the horrors committed by the power of Yaoundé, on the physical and moral tortures, the degrading and inhuman treatments, to which were submitted the CRM leaders, leaders of the coalition that supported Maurice MAMTO in the 2018 presidential election, as well as members and other citizens.
After 15 days of unlawful and arbitrary detention during which the police were subjected to all kinds of harassment, often cut off from their families and their lawyers, and even deprived of medical care, they were referred to Military Court of Yaoundé with escorts worthy of the worst terrorists. Inside this Court, they were all parked in a cramped courtroom on Tuesday, 12th February 2019.
They will spend 48 hours, under the threat of some men in uniform and others in civilian clothes heavily armed, forced to sleep on the ground, with all food a cold meal brought by the party, not without bitter discussions.
Many of them suffered from hypoglycemia and dizziness in this room where the heat was more than suffocating.The goal was obviously to create a climate of terror, a state terror worthy of the worst dictatorships in the world.
At Yaounde Central Prison, where most of them are detained, living conditions are simply deplorable. Human beings are crammed into a small cell in which it is not even possible to sit, as tight as in a tin of sardines.There is no sleeping equipment, and hygienic conditions are sketchy.
Women are not better off, they also sleep on bare ground.The party is forced to pay a lot of unjustified fees and to provide mattresses, bedding, and food. An elderly man, 67 years old, who was abducted in Dschang, physically tortured and watered, fell into a coma on February 14th before being transported to hospital but his life is fortunately not in danger.
The CRM condemns with the utmost energy this state barbarism, and once again demands the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.
Yaoundé, February 15th, 2019.
Emmanuel SIMH,
CRM 3rd National Vice President.
