Bamenda: Man Detained Incommunicado at BIR Camp for Weeks

Fone Ghislain Martial, a local businessman, has spent over two weeks behind bars at the BIR camp in the Bamenda airport in Bafut, MMI has learned.

People familiar with his detention have told MMI that Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) forces picked up Ghislain from his shop on December 6.

They have reportedly detained him since then and have barred family members from accessing him.

Money Demanded from Fone Ghislain’s Family

BIR officers reportedly demanded a sum of money for his release, even though his family has not been informed of the reason for his detention.

“He is being held at the BIR camp at the Bamenda airport. No specific amount has been requested. They said family should go and prepare a lot of money,” MMI was told.

We cannot verify these allegations because the Cameroon military rarely responds to questions from local media.

Bamenda, where authorities arrested Ghislain, serves as a hotspot in the ongoing Anglophone armed conflict, victimising civilians in various ways.Both separatists and the Cameroon military have been accused of targeting civilians through arbitrary arrest and detention, kidnapping, arson and summary executions.

Human rights groups have documented cases of people arbitrarily detained for months without charge.

Prolonged and incommunicado detention contradicts Cameroon’s Criminal Procedure Code, which specifies that civilians should not be detained without charge for more than 48 hours.

Authorities at the Ministry of Justice recently assured the UN committee on torture that the country doesn’t detain people for more than 48 hours.

But cases like that of Fone Ghislain appears to contradict official claims.

The condition under which he has been detained remains unknown and his family says they are unable to raise the money the BIR officers have demanded.

Recurrent Cases of Prolonged Detentions

Arbitrary and incommunicado detentions are very common in Cameroon.

But it is worse in the North West and South West regions of the country, where a separatist armed conflict has been raging for eight years.

MMI has reported dozens of cases where civilians are mass arrested and forced to bribe officers for their release.

Some spend weeks without charge, while others spend over a month before their families get to know their whereabouts.

Barely a month ago, MMI reported the case of a 69-year-old woman in Buea who was detained for several days without charge.

A month later, she is being held at Buea Central Prison and family members say she hasn’t had access to her medications.

Judicial authorities have reportedly demanded over half a million francs CFA for her release.

Fone Ghislain and the 69-year-old in Buea are just a few cases among thousands who continue to suffer arbitrary arrests and detention in Cameroon.