More than 15 lawyers, including former Bar President and presidential aspirant Akere Muna, turned out at the Bonanjo Court of First Instance today to defend Barrister Alice Nkom in a case pitting her against the state of Cameroon.
The veteran human rights defender is standing trial for tearing off an administrative seal placed on the door of her office in Douala in December last year.
The case was heard today, April 7, in Douala, drawing several lawyers and human rights advocates. Among those in attendance were renowned human rights lawyer Barrister Tamfu Richard and civil society advocate Gladys Mbunya.
After the hearing adjourned to June 2, Barrister Nkom thanked the lawyers and advocates who supported her on social media.
“Thank you to those who kept watch. Thank you to those who marched, wrote, shared, and prayed,” she wrote on her Facebook account.
She added, “Thank you to the anonymous, to those close to you, and to the righteous. Thank you to you who dream of a new Cameroon and who refuse to become accustomed to silence.”
Continuous Defiance
Barrister Alice Nkom has remained defiant throughout the legal process, describing her trial as an attempt to weaponize the justice system against those who refuse to align with the government.
She is the founder of the Central African Human Rights Defenders Network (REDHAC), an NGO that the Minister of Territorial Administration banned on December 5, 2024, over allegations of financial misconduct.
Nkom and a conglomerate of civil organisations in Cameroon dismissed the ban as illegal.
Following the government’s ban, the Senior Divisional Officer for Wouri ordered the REDHAC office sealed — a measure Barrister Nkom also termed illegal.
She later broke the seal, triggering a series of summons from the Wouri SDO. However, she defied many of them.
She faces separate charges at the Yaoundé military court, where authorities accuse her of endangering state security and sponsoring terrorism in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon.
A little-known NGO, the Societal Development Observatory (Observation du Développement Sociétal, ODS), filed the complaint.
Critics claim that the increasing legal pressure on her directly connects to the controversial banning of REDHAC.
