A Cameroonian businessman suspected of multiple sexual assaults and rapes was arrested Wednesday morning in Douala, announced CRTV, the Cameroonian state radio and television.
“Hervé Bopda was arrested this morning (...) in Bonabéri.
The suspect Hervé Bopda is suspected of having raped or sexually assaulted a very large number of young girls.
Since the start of the affair (...) two arrest warrants had been signed.
His arrest opens the way to the legal proceedings which will be responsible for listing evidence against him.
The Cameroon Bar Association called last week for the opening of an investigation.
The Cameroon Human Rights Commission also took up the matter on January 19 in the face of its impact on social networks and regretted last Saturday that it was not able to
“treat it as it should”
, namely
“ hear the witnesses”
and
“confront the parties”
due to the anonymity of the denunciations.
More than 70 anonymous testimonies
The government also reacted through the Minister for the Promotion of Women and the Family who welcomed
“the referral to the competent judicial authorities with a view to establishing the materiality of the facts”
, in a press release published Friday.
Marie-Thérèse Abena Ondoa
“encouraged”
the victims to
“break the silence”
and
“to provide the judicial authorities with the elements necessary to conduct the procedures intended to establish the materiality of the facts”
.
Since mid-January, more than 70 anonymous testimonies containing accusations of sexual assault have been relayed on social networks by a Cameroonian blogger.
A hashtag (#StopBopda), born from the wave of indignation among Internet users, has since been used several thousand times on across the African continent.