Highlights of U.S. State Department 2015 Cameroon Human Rights Report
~ As of October 31, there were no reported developments in the case of the three suspects arrested in connection with the 2014 killing of Christiane Soppo Mbango, a close aide of former government minister Marafa Hamidou Yaya, who was serving a 25-year prison term. p 3, para. 2;
~ Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that human rights activists
attempting to visit prisoners were required to pay bribes to prison officials. Some human rights activists, however, reported they were unable to obtain the necessary permits to visit prisoners. For example, NGOs reported they were denied access to Marafa Hamidou Yaya, including while he was at the Yaounde General Hospital receiving treatment. In response the government insisted that proper procedures requesting access were not followed. p 7, para. 5;
~ As of September Aboubakar Sidiki and Abdoulaye Harissou, arrested August 9 and 26, 2014, respectively, remained in pretrial detention at Yaounde Kondengui Principal Prison. Hearings were scheduled to commence in January 2016. p 11, para. 5;
~ Political Prisoners and Detainees
No statistics were available on the number of political prisoners. Political prisoners were detained under heightened security, often within the Secretariat of State for Defense. Some detainees were held within the General Delegation of External Research under high security, and the government did not permit access to such persons on a regular basis, or at all, depending on the case.
Former minister of state for territorial administration Marafa Hamidou Yaya, convicted in 2012 on corruption charges and sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment, remained in detention. During the year the government reportedly refused regular access to him. On July 3, barrister Saskia Ditisheim, Marafa’s Swiss lawyer, and her local colleague, barrister Alice Nkom, were expelled from the Yaounde General Hospital during a visit to their client, who had been receiving treatment in the hospital over the preceding few weeks. A police officer arrived at the hospital room with an order to usher the two visitors to the hospital director, who told them they could not continue their visit because they did not have a permit to communicate with Marafa. p 14.
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