Forty-seven activists of the Cameroonian opponent Maurice Kamto's party, including his spokesperson and treasurer, were sentenced to terms ranging from one to seven years in prison, in particular for "
rebellion
", declared Monday 27 December to AFP a person in charge of this political formation.
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These activists were arrested on September 22, 2020 when their party, the Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (MRC) and several others were planning “
peaceful marches
” against the regime of President Paul Biya, in power without sharing for 39 years. The police had very violently dispersed hundreds of demonstrators, especially in Douala, the economic capital, in the south of the country. More than 500 protesters were arrested in several cities across the country. And 124 are still detained, according to the MRC.
“
Forty-seven activists of our party were sentenced to prison terms by the Yaoundé military court.
Maurice Kamto's spokesperson, Olivier Bibou Nissack, and treasurer Alain Fogue, are sentenced to seven years
, ”declared the party's deputy secretary general, Roger Noah.
"
The others are sentenced to terms ranging from one to five years,
" he continued.
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The militants were prosecuted in particular for "
rebellion
" and "
attempted insurrection
", underlined Emmanuel Simh, vice-president of the MRC. In September, a group of lawyers had given up defending a hundred militants of the MRC, denouncing "
arbitrariness
" and "
the illegality of their detention
". Maurice Kamto, the unfortunate rival of the head of state re-elected in 2018 in a ballot contested by the opposition, presents himself as "
the elected president
" and was jailed without trial for nine months in 2019 before being released to the resulting from intense international pressure.
The authorities have repeatedly assured that those arrested on September 22 are being prosecuted, in particular for "
attempted insurrection
" or "
revolution
".
Some have already been convicted on these charges.
Two months after their arrest, Amnesty International accused the regime of Paul Biya of continuing a "
relentless repression of opponents
" characterized by "
arbitrary arrests and detentions
".