Cameroon’s Supreme Court has quashed a Court of Appeal judgment that had upheld life sentences for Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and nine other Ambazonia separatist leaders who have been serving life sentences in Yaounde since 2019.
The nation’s premier court ordered a fresh hearing of the appeal case by a new jury.
The ruling, delivered by the Criminal Bench of the Judicial Division under Justice Marie Louise Abomo, nullified the September 2020 decision by the Centre Regional Court of Appeal, which had confirmed the Yaounde Military Tribunal’s August 20, 2019 conviction of the 10 separatist leaders popularly known as the “Nera 10”.
Following the Supreme Court verdict, lead counsel Senior Barrister Akere Muna said the case has been remitted to the Court of Appeal, which must rehear the matter with a new judicial panel.
“By quashing the appellate decision and ordering a fresh hearing, the Supreme Court has effectively acknowledged that serious injustice tainted the proceedings before the Court of Appeal of Centre Region,” Barrister Akere said in a statement.
The original 2019 military court judgment had found the nine separatist leaders guilty of secession, terrorism, and hostility against the state.
In addition to the life sentences, the court imposed substantial financial penalties, including a joint civil award of 250 billion francs CFA and an additional 12 billion francs CFA in costs.
These convictions remain in place for now, as Thursday’s ruling only nullifies the appeal verdict and orders a new appellate hearing.
The Nera 10, as the Ambazonia leaders are commonly called, were arrested from the Nera Hotel in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2018 and brought to Cameroon in what their lawyers call an abduction.
This was in connection with their quest for an independent state called Ambazonia in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon.
Sisiku Ayuk Tabe headed the separatist movement as interim President of Ambazonia.
But their arrest created a leadership vacuum and split the movement into several opposing factions that failed to agree as armed conflict devastated the the two Anglophone regions.
As a result, more than 6,000 civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.
