Ongoing detention and judicial harassment of Mr. Mancho Bibixy Tse (known as BBC)

URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY

CMR 001 / 0418 / OBS 042

Arbitrary detention /

Judicial harassment

Cameroon
April 9, 2018

TheObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDHand the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgentintervention in the following situation in Cameroon.

Description of the situation:

TheObservatory has been informed by reliable sourcesabout the ongoing detentionand judicial harassment of Mr. Mancho Bibixy Tse (known as BBC),journalist newscaster of Abakwa, a local radio programme aired on BamendaFM through which he has reported on the rights of the Anglophone minorityin Cameroon with a focus on their social and economic marginalisation. He hasalso been working in close collaboration with the civil society consortium todocument rights violations in North-West Cameroon and to protect vulnerablepeople in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon.

Accordingto the information received, on April 13, 2018, Mr. Mancho Bibixy will appearbefore the Military Tribunal in Yaoundé, where he is facing charges of “secession”,“terrorism”, “rebellion”, “inciting civil war”, “spreading false informationthrough social media”, “attempting to change the constitutional regime”,“outrage to a public body” and “failure to hold his ID card” under the 2014terrorism law and which carry the death penalty.

Mr.Mancho Bibixy had been arrested on January 19, 2017, while at a friend’s house.Armed soldiers climbed up the house’s fence while shooting in the air andforcibly opened two doors. He was arrested and hooded without having a chanceto dress up, take his shoes or his ID card. He was further beaten and taken toa vehicle.

Heis currently detained at the Kondengui central prison, a maximum-securityprison in Yaoundé, where he does not have regular access to his family. Sincethe beginning of his detention, his health has deteriorated and has beenfurther weakened by a hunger strike he started on June 7, 2017 to protestagainst his poor detention conditions and which lasted for a week. He iscurrently sharing an overcrowded cell with 15 other inmates with poor access tohygiene facilities and is suffering from back pain.

Since the beginning of his trial on February 1, 2017,hearings have been postponed more than fourteen times, for different reasonsincluding a request from the Prosecutor, who required more time to gatherevidence, bank holidays and the absence of the judges.

The Observatory fearsthat the ongoing judicial harassment against Mr. Mancho Bibixy comes inretaliation to his peaceful and legitimate human rights activities, inparticular in the context of the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon, in which he hasled several peaceful protests demanding for the rights of the Anglophonepopulation to be respected[1].

Consequently,the Observatory strongly condemns the arbitrary detention and judicialharassment of Mr. Mancho Bibixy and urges Cameroonian authorities toimmediately and unconditionally release him as well as to put an end to allforms of harassment, including at the judicial level, against him.

TheObservatory further urges the Cameroon authorities to ensure that, until allcharges are dropped, all judicial proceedings are carried out in fullcompliance with his right to a fair trial, as protected under internationallaw.

Actionsrequested:

Pleasewrite to the authorities of Cameroon asking them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical andpsychological integrity of Mr. Mancho Bibixy, as well as of all humanrights defenders in Cameroon;

ii. Immediately and unconditionally release Mr. ManchoBibixy, as well as all human rights defenders detained in Cameroon;

iii. Put an end to all acts of harassment, including at thejudicial level, against Mr. Mancho Bibixy, as well as of all humanrights defenders in Cameroon;

iv. Until all charges are dropped, ensure that alljudicial proceedings against Mr. Mancho Bibixy are carried out in fullcompliance with his right to a fair trial, as protected under internationallaw;

v. Conform in any circumstances with the provisions ofthe Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted on December 9, 1998 by theUnited Nations General Assembly, in particular its Articles 1 and 12.2.;

vi. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rightsand fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rightsinstruments ratified by Cameroon.

Addresses:

• His Excellency Mr. Paul Biya, President of the Republic, Presidency of the Republic, Palais de l’Unité, 1000 Yaoundé, Cameroon, Fax +237 22 22 08 70
• H.E. Mr. Philémon Yang, Prime Minister and Chief Head of Government, Primature du Cameroun, 1000 Yaoundé‚ Cameroon. Fax: +237 22 23 57 65. Email: spm@spm.gov.cm
• Mr. Laurent Esso, Minister of Justice, Ministry of Justice, 1000 Yaoundé‚ Cameroon, Fax: + 237 22 23 00 05
• Mr. René Emmanuel Sadi, Minister of Territorial Administration, Fax: + 237 22 22 37 35
• Dr. Chemuta Divine Banda, Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms, Fax: +237 22 22 60 82, E-mail: cndhl@iccnet.cm / cdbanda26@yahoo.fr
• Ms. Enonchong Annet, Protection Officer of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms, Email: annet_mbeng@yahoo.com
• H.E. Mr. Anatole Fabien Marie Nkou, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Cameroon to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Avenue de France 23, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland. Fax: + 41 22 736 21 65, Email: mission.cameroun@bluewin.ch
• H.E. Mr. Daniel Evina Abe’e, Ambassador of Cameroon to Belgium & the European Union, Embassy of the Republic of Cameroon in Brussels, 131 av. Brugmann, 1190 (Forest), Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 344 57 35; Email: ambassade.cameroun@skynet.be; embassy@cameroon.be

Pleasealso write to diplomatic representations of Cameroon in your respectivecountries.

***

Geneva-Paris,April 9, 2018

Kindlyinform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in yourreply.

TheObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) wascreated in 1997 by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the FIDH.The objective of this programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situationsof repression against human rights defenders. OMCT and FIDH are both membersof ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented byinternational civil society.

Tocontact the Observatory, call the emergency line:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax OMCT + 41 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

· Tel and fax FIDH + 33 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

[1] See FIDH Press release, “Deathtoll rises in Anglophone regions after severe repression” published on October8, 2017. @font-face { font-family: "Arial";}@font-face { font-family: "ＭＳ 明朝";}@font-face { font-family: "Cambria Math";}@font-face { font-family: "Cambria";}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; }p.MsoFootnoteText, li.MsoFootnoteText, div.MsoFootnoteText { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 14.15pt; text-indent: -14.15pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }span.NotedebasdepageCar { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }span.caractresdenotedebasdepage { }.MsoChpDefault { font-family: Cambria; }div.WordSection1 { }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; }