Bar Council Doubts Fairness of Gendarmerie Probe into Barrister Tamfu Torture

By David Atangana

The Cameroon Bar Council has petitioned the Minister of Defense requesting a joint Gendarmerie and Police investigation into the brutality meted on Barrister Tamfu Richard by gendarmes in Douala.

The request comes after a Gendarmerie investigation of crime faulted the human rights lawyer, playing down on the three officers implicated.

On November 27, 2024, a viral video showed two gendarmes of the Bonanjo Groupement brutalizing Barrister Tamfu Richard.

They had violently thrown him into the trunk of their pickup and stumped him with their boots.

The Gendarmes involved in the brutality were identified as Medjo Eko Celestine, Ntah Malvin Tiku, and Bouen Kiyaki.

Widespread condemnations prompted Galaxy Etoga, Secretary of State for National Gendarmerie, to order an investigation whose findings shocked the Bar Council.

Bar Council President, Battonnier Mbah Eric Mbah, strongly questioned the fairness and objectivity of the investigation.

To him, the Gendarmerie could hardly be fair since it is implicated in the crime.

“Strangely, however, by a report dated 6th December 2024 and circulated, Barrister Tamfu was accused of violence on a civil servant, destruction of military items, insults and obstruction of justice while the gendarmes were merely accused of abuse of office, slight harm and violation of orders,” Eric Mbah wrote.

According to the Bar Council President, “the offenses of assault and torture, which should have been the first against the gendarmes, were, among others, not identified”.

Rejecting the reports of the findings, the Cameroon Bar Council noted that being complainant and investigator in the same matter can only produce the results being brandished on social media.

He called for justice to be done, requesting a joint independent investigation.

“It is on this note of gross injustice and manifest impartiality that I seize your high office, urging you to instruct that the investigation of the said complaints be carried out by a joint team of police and gendarmes to guarantee a minimal level of fairness in the investigation,” he stated.