{"id":15384,"date":"2019-08-20T07:47:06","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T11:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=15384"},"modified":"2019-08-20T07:47:06","modified_gmt":"2019-08-20T11:47:06","slug":"cameroon-crisis-ambazonia-separatists-get-life-sentences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2019\/08\/20\/cameroon-crisis-ambazonia-separatists-get-life-sentences\/","title":{"rendered":"Cameroon crisis: Ambazonia separatists get life sentences"},"content":{"rendered":"

A leader of Cameroon’s separatist movement, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, and nine of his followers have been given life sentences by a military court in the capital, Yaound\u00e9.<\/p>\n

They were convicted of rebellion, among other charges.<\/p>\n

Their lawyers accused the judge of bias and withdrew from the proceedings.<\/p>\n

The English-speaking separatists argue they are marginalised by the bureaucracy and school system in the majority French-speaking country.<\/p>\n

The defendants had been arrested in Nigeria in January 2018 and deported back to Cameroon.<\/p>\n

The court session on the verdicts, which started on Monday, went on until 05:30 (04:30 GMT) local time Tuesday morning, reports the BBC’s Leocadio Bongben.<\/p>\n

By that time the defence lawyers had already withdrawn from the proceedings but continued to stay in the court as spectators.<\/p>\n

Defence barrister Joseph Fru said there were irregularities in the proceedings, including the judge’s biases, but the military court rejected his evidence.<\/p>\n

The long list of charges included rebellion, complicity in terrorism, financing terrorism, revolution, insurrection, hostility against the state, propagation of fake news and lack of identification.<\/p>\n

The court also ordered the 10 to pay a fine of 250bn CFA francs ($422m; \u00a3359m) to the government for civil damages and 12bn CFA francs for court costs.<\/p>\n

Among the 10 who were convicted was Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the leader of the so-called Governing Council of Ambazonia – the name separatists have given to Cameroon’s Anglophone North-West and South-West regions.<\/p>\n

Cameroon’s English-speakers say they have been marginalised for decades by the central government and the French-speaking majority.<\/p>\n

The current crisis started in 2016 when lawyers and teachers went on strike over the use of French in courts and schools.<\/p>\n

In October 2017, activists declared autonomy over the two English-speaking regions – a move rejected by Cameroon’s President Paul Biya.<\/p>\n

Some took up arms in 2017 and the crisis has forced more than 500,000 people from their homes.<\/p>\n

Why does Cameroon have both English and French-speakers?<\/h2>\n
\"Map\"<\/span>
English-speaking Cameroon are marked in the darker colour<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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