CMR 001
/ 0317 / OBS 033.2
Death threats /
Judicial harassment
Cameroon
April 20, 2018
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights
Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture
(OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in
the following situation in Cameroon.
New information:

The
Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the ongoing judicial
harassment and death threats targeting several members of the Organic Farming
for Gorillas (OFFGO), a group of farmers founded in September 2015 to promote
organic farming, environmental protection, opposing land grabbing and working
for the protection of the cross-river gorilla in Mbengwi, in the North-West Region
of Cameroon.
According to the
information received, on April 13, 2018, a man who allegedly worked with billionaire businessman Mr. Baba Ahmadou Danpullo[1],
called and threatened to kill OFFGO’s lawyer Mr. Elvis Brown and his family
if they did not “drop the file”,
referring to OFFGO’s complaints before the National Commission on Human Rights
and Freedoms (NCHRF). The caller told details of the presence of Mr. Brown and
his family in Bamenda, including related to their home and the children’s school.
He also threatened to kill Mr. Jan Cappelle, founder of OFFGO.
A complaint was filed before
the Police National Security Department in Mbengwi, who latter summoned the
caller to present himself by April 18, 2018. The caller, who received the
summons on April 16, 2018, did not present himself.
On April 18, 2018, the same
person called Mr. Elvis Brown again and told him to “prepare very well”. On April 19, 2018, Mr. Elvis Brown received
another text message reading “watch and
see how I make your team suffer”, “you
should be sorry for your friends back here. I am merciless”, “I am heartless I have no feelings” and “I will teach your team a bitter lesson. You
will all suffer for destabilising Cameroon”.
These threats come at a time
when the NCHRF is supposed to publish a report following investigations carried
out into the abuses and judicial harassment targeting OFFGO members. The
publication of the report was already delayed several times, despite the
conduct of two field visits to Tudig and Mbengwi in April 2017, and to Mbengwi
and Bamenda in February 2018 (see background information).
The Observatory urges the
Cameroonian authorities to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and
psychological integrity of OFFGO members, and to conduct an immediate,
thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into the death threats
directed at them, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them before
an independent tribunal, and sanction them as provided by the law.
The Observatory further
recalls that two other OFFGO members, Messrs. Matthias Awazi and Humfred
Manjo, are still facing trumped-up charges and face up to three years in prison
(see background information). Accordingly, the Observatory calls upon the
authorities of Cameroon to put an end to all acts of harassment -
including at judicial level - against the and all OFFGO members.
Finally, the Observatory is
concerned by the delays in the publication of the report and recommendations by
the NCHRF, entailing further harassment of OFFGO members and impunity for those
responsible.
Background information:
The village of Tudig, in
Mbengwi, where OFFGO has its headquarters, as well as its members, have been since
2016 the target of intimidation and harassment from the Divisional Officer of
Mbengwi Sub-division and from Mr. Baba Danpullo, who has been involved in
several cases of land grabbing in the country[2].
In September 2015, OFFGO submitted a report
to the Governor of the North-West region on the conflict opposing farmers and
cattle ranchers. In October 2015, the Senior Divisional Officer of the Momo
Division opened an investigation into the irregularities revealed in the report
with respect to land attribution.
On January 21, 2016, the Divisional Officer of Mbengwi Sub-Division
declared that he had requested an investigation on Mr. Jan Cappelle and on
allegations of “support to the communities in Tudig”, which would allegedly
encourage communities to take their land back. On February 27, 2016, Mr.
Cappelle was interrogated by the Mbengwi gendarmerie. As there was no evidence
against him, he was not arrested.
In March 2016, the Divisional Officer of Mbengwi Sub-Division asked again
for an investigation to be carried out into Mr. Cappelle’s activities, but this
time to the Mbengwi police. This investigation led to a report, stating that no
threat to security could be reported with respect to Mr. Cappelle’s activities.
On May 5, 2016,
Mr. Jan Cappelle was interrogated by the gendarmerie and another interrogation
was scheduled on May 11. A day before, on May 10, 2016, Mr. Cappelle was
arrested in Bamenda by the police and transferred to Yaoundé where he was
placed in detention and given no access to his lawyer until May 12, 2016. On
May 13, 2016, Mr. Cappelle was expelled from Cameroon to Belgium without any
legal justification[3]. An investigation into the
expulsion was launched in July 2016 by the national gendarmerie of the North
West Region, concluding that the accusations were not justified. No further
action was taken following the issuance of the gendarmerie report, which was
sent to the Presidency in August 2016.
Furthermore,
in May 2016, the Divisional Officer of Mbengwi Sub-Division informed
verbally the villagers that he issued an injunction for the destruction of the
organic community farm developed by OFFGO in Tudig. This resulted in a peaceful
protest by hundreds of OFFGO members and villagers, opposing the destruction
order, which led to the arrest of Messrs. Matthias Awazi and Humfred Manjo on July 16,
2016 on charges of violating “Sub
Prefectural Decision No 053/SPD/BALPA/2015 placing an injunction order on a
grazer area under dispute in Tudig Village” and “illegal retention” of two
goats under Section 322(3) of the Penal Code. They were transferred to the
Mbengwi Tribunal of First Instance and provisionally released on the same day.
On February 22, 2017, the
hearing in the case against OFFGO board members Matthias Awazi and Humfred
Manjo, scheduled before the Mbengwi Court of First Instance, was postponed due
to the ongoing lawyers’ strike in the Anglophone region of Cameroon. As of
publication of this Appeal, not further hearing date had been scheduled. Moreover,
since May 29, 2017, the Mbengwi Court of First Instance has repeatedly
requested both the defendants and the plaintiff to respectively pay 150,000
FCFA (approx. 229 euros) and 100,000 FCFA (approx. 153 euros) in order to visit
the community farm (locus fee)
although this practice is illegal under Cameroonian law[4].
In addition, the village of
Tudig, has been the target of several security incidents since mid-2016.
Specifically, destructions and damages to the farmers’ huts, destruction of
property, theft of crops as well as theft and killings of farm animals by armed
civilians were reported respectively in September 2016, November 2016 and
February 2017.
Besides, on February 2,
2017, the Mbengwi Prosecutor (State Counsel[5]) briefly detained the
village Regent Mr. Vincent Awazi for unknown reasons to
later free him on a 500,000 FCFA (approx. 762 Euros) bail. No charges were
brought against him - nor have been to date - as the State Counsel failed to
transfer Mr. Awazi's file to court. Yet, Mr. Awazi got informed that the State
Counsel is still investigating potential charges against him. On May 17, 2017,
he was summoned before the Mbengwi Court of First Instance, although to date he
has not been notified of any charge pending against him and no further hearing
date has been scheduled.
On March 23, 2017, Mr.
Vincent Awazi filed a complaint denouncing the illegal arrest, detention and
expulsion of Mr. Jan Cappelle,
as well as the subsequent
harassment of several OFFGO members. As a result, the NCHRF carried out an
investigation into the abuses and judicial harassment targeting OFFGO members.
Actions
requested:
Please
write to the authorities of Cameroon and ask them to:
i. Guarantee
in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of OFFGO members, and all human rights defenders in Cameroon;
ii. Put an
end to all acts of harassment - including at judicial level - against OFFGO
members and all human rights defenders in Cameroon;
iii. Ensure
in all circumstances that OFFCO and its members as well as all human rights
defenders in Cameroon are able to carry out their legitimate activities without
any hindrance and fear of reprisals;
iv. Conform
in any circumstances with the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on
Human Rights Defenders, adopted on December 9, 1998 by the UN General Assembly,
in particular its Articles 1 and 12.2;
v. Ensure in
all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in
accordance with international human rights instruments ratified by Cameroon.
Addresses:
· His Excellency Mr. Paul Biya,
President of the Republic of Cameroon, Fax +237 22 22 08 70
· H.E. Mr. Philémon Yang, Prime
Minister and Chief Head of Government of Cameroon. Fax: +237 22 23 57 65.
Email: spm@spm.gov.cm
· Mr. Laurent Esso, Minister of
Justice of Cameroon, Fax: + 237 22 23 00 05
· Mr. Atanga Nji , Minister of
Territorial Administration of Cameroon, 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, Switzerland. Fax: + 41 22 736 21 65, Email:
mission.cameroun@bluewin.ch
· H.E. Mr. Daniel Evina Abe’e,
Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Cameroon in Brussels, Belgium, Fax: + 32
2 344 57 35; Email: ambassade.cameroun@skynet.be; embassy@cameroon.be
Please also write to diplomatic representations of Cameroon in
your respective countries.
***
Paris-Geneva, April 20, 2018
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this
appeal in your reply.
The
Observatory, an FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of human rights
defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need. FIDH and OMCT
are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the
European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international
civil society.
[1] Mr. Baba Ahmadou Danpullo is a cattle rancher, tea plantation owner and
a member of the Central Committee of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic
Movement (CPDM) party.
[2]
For
more information see for instance Observatory Urgent Appeal CMR 001 / 0716 / OBS 056.2, published on
January 13, 2017.
[3] However, Mr. Danpullo’s direct involvement into Mr. Jan Cappelle’s
expulsion has been verbally reported to OFFGO members by the National
Gendarmerie of Momo as well as by the National Gendarmerie of the North West
region, and sources at the Presidency. In addition, a leaked report from the
National Gendarmerie of the North West region accuses Mr. Jan Cappelle of
defamation and attempted murder against Mr. Danpullo. Another document in the
file alleged that Mr. Jan Cappelle was in possession of GPS, trackers and bombs
as so-called “instruments” to kill Mr. Danpullo.
[4] Sub-Chapter
II of the Cameroonian Code of Criminal Procedure which provides for visit to
the locus in quo, searches and seizures does not include any locus fee that
should be paid by the parties.
[5] Under
Cameroonian law, the State Counsel is the office of the Prosecutors,
constituting the legal department/prosecution department.
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