28, July 2022
CPDM Crime Syndicate: Former CRTV GM at risk of dying in prison 0
This Friday, July 29, 2022, the former General Manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV), Amadou Vamoulke, will have spent six years in the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison, still awaiting trial despite incessant calls from Reporters Without Borders for his release.
The veteran French Cameroun journalist was arrested for alleged misappropriation of public funds, during his time as head of CRTV from 2005 to 2016. He is also accused of embezzling TV tax money known in Cameroon as audio-visual fee.
His trial has witnessed several postponements and adjournments with no end in sight and the much respected international NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) now believes that Vamoulke is being arbitrarily detained by the Cameroonian justice system for political reasons.
Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that there have been 127 hearings and this great journalist has still not been found guilty of all the charges brought against him. The reason is very simple noted Reporters Without Borders “The prosecution has been unable to demonstrate with the slightest evidence and testimony the facts of embezzlement that it accuses Mr. Vamoulké of. The arbitrary nature of this detention was recognized by the UN, which recommended that the Cameroonian authorities release Vamoulké. This journalist has already lost six years of his life. He is 72 years old. We hope that the goal is not to silence him forever. His release is no longer just an issue,” said Arnaud Froger, the head of Reporters Without Borders for Africa
A committee for the rehabilitation and release of Vamoulké has even been set up to put pressure on the Biya regime to demand the release of Amadou Vamoulke, and includes personalities from the audiovisual sector and also several organizations for the defense and protection of journalists and human rights organizations. The said committee has initiated since 2019, the signing of petitions and to date, it has already collected thousands of signatures and the signatories are from 42 countries.
By Fon Lawrence
28, July 2022
Buhari administration sets harsh conditions for Ambazonian asylum seekers 0
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved a memo by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development for a standard operation procedure for maintaining the civilian and humanitarian character of asylum seekers from Cameroon.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said this was to guard against the possibility of granting asylum to insurgents from Cameroon.
He said: “You all know that due to the insurgency in Cameroon, Nigeria has witnessed an influx of Cameroonian asylum seekers and there’s a basic standard procedure for you to be granted status as an asylum seeker.”
He said anybody from Cameroon seeking asylum in Nigeria must first convince the authorities that he/she has actually renounced armed struggle before he/she can be considered as an asylum seeker.
“Also there are cases of some of them who have come even when they claim to have surrendered their arms, go back at times, to join the separatist movement in Cameroon.”
“So, all we’ve done today is to establish the standard procedure to ensure those claiming to be asylum seekers are actually not insurgents themselves that have come to destabilize Nigeria or people who will come and be launching attacks against their own country from the comfort of Nigeria.”
Source: Daily Trust