Wouri High Court rejects request to free 23 MRC supporters

The High Court of Wouri in Cameroon’s economic capital, Douala has ruled against a request filed by lawyers who are demanding the release of 23 supporters of Cameroon Renaissance Movement party detained for participating in a September 2020 protest.

Among the detainees is a 37-year-old nursing single mother, Dorgelesse Nguessan, who had joined the MRC protest over concerns about the economic wellbeing, Amnesty International said in a January 25 release.

“We are deeply disappointed that the authorities have failed to recognize the arbitrary nature of the ongoing detention of these protestors. Arresting and imprisoning people solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly is an arbitrary act and fails to meet Cameroon’s obligations under international human rights law,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

“These 23 protestors have not committed a single crime and should be immediately and unconditionally released. All others detained in the country for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly must also be freed,” Amnesty International further said.

The 23 detainees were among about 500 people arrested mostly from Douala, Yaounde and Bafoussam during the September 2020 protests that also led to the house arrest of MRC chairman, Maurice Kamto.

Although the government freed a good number of them due to mounting domestic and international pressure, a few others, including Dorgelesse Nguessan, a single mother, are still paying the price.

She was sentenced to five years in prison by the Douala military court on 7 December 2021, on charges of insurrection and public demonstration.

“As Dorgelesse was convicted simply for exercising her right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, Amnesty International has denounced the arbitrary nature of her detention, and also called for her immediate and unconditional release in a campaign in January 2022. Her situation also featured among 10 cases profiled in this year’s Write For Rights campaign,” the organisation said on its website.

The institution is not the only to find problems with the detention of the 23 MRC supporters.

On November 4, 2022, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said the detention of 15 MRC activists who had participated in 2019 or 2020 demonstrations was arbitrary.

By Tata Mbunwe