Jailed Abazonia Leaders To Appear Before Supreme Court

By MMI

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, leader of Cameroon’s Ambazonia separatist movement, and nine others will appear before the Supreme Court on December 18, The Post newspaper has reported, citing credible sources.

The Ambazonia leaders are serving life sentences at the Yaounde Principal Prison.

They were sentenced in 2019 after being arrested in Nigeria and deported to Cameroon. The Mfoundi High Court sentenced them to life imprisonment in 2019 in the absence of their lawyers, who walked out in protest.

However, an appeal was filed in which the Mfoundi Appeal High Court upheld. 
Their lawyers proceeded to the Supreme Court, which has now promised, after five years, to hear the case on December 18.

Charges Against Separatist Leaders

The separatist leaders were charged with, among other things, armed rebellion in the North West and South West Regions, non-possession of a Cameroonian ID card and threats to the national and external security of the state. 

In 2018, Nigerian authorities arrested them following a tip-off from Cameroonian officials. They were later repatriated to Cameroon despite their asylum and refugee status in Nigeria.

A federal high court in Nigeria ruled that their deportation to Cameroon was illegal and ordered for their immediate release and compensation. However, that order is yet to be executed.

The accused are Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, Willfred Tassang, Blaise Berinyuy, Che Awasum, Elias Ebai Eyambi, Cornelius Kwanga, Che Fedelis, Egbe Ntui Orgork, Nfor Nfor Ngala and Tata Henry Kimeng.

The hearing is commencing also at the time the US has started prosecuting some three citizens of Cameroonian origin who were arrested and charged for funding separatist activities, kidnapping and money laundering.

Meanwhile, in Norway, the leader of the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF), Cho Ayaba Lucas, has been held in detention for more than a year now.

Conflict Still Raging

Despite their incarceration, the separatist armed conflict is still raging. It has exceeded eight years now. There have been calls for inclusive and genuine dialogue. 

More than 6,000 people have died, according to UN figures published in 2019, with more one million others displaced internally and externally.