Saturday, 3 June 2017

Double standards: Court inclined to provisional release of Balla and Fontem!



 But hostile to freedom of Mancho and 23 others!
What then was the raison d’etre of fusing the cases?

The fusion of the case of the detained leaders of the banned Consortium and that of Mancho Bibixy who led what has become known as the “Coffin Revolution” together with 25 others by the Yaounde Military Court gave hope that these leaders of the Anglophone struggle would be given a joint pardon or release should the need arise.

 
Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla
But the proceedings of the last trial in Yaounde last Wednesday appeared to have dashed that hope.
In what was seen as double standards, the Yaounde Military Tribunal announced it was going to look only into the issue of bail for Agbor Balla and Fontem during the next hearing billed for 7 June, but declined bail for Mancho Bibixy and the others.
At the start of the hearing, Colonel Abega Mbezoa,  the government commissioner (prosecutor) said he was not “hostile” to a provisional release for Balla and Fontem that is accompanied by placement under judicial supervision. “The Public Prosecutor is not opposed to the putting under judicial supervision” of Felix Agbor Nkongho and Neba Fontem Aforteka’a, said the government commissioner, media reports noted.
The same prosecutor rejected same bail terms for the other 25 accused.
Dr. Fontem Neba

Observers questioned the raison d’etre behind fusing the two cases then turn round to give ‘preferential treatment’ only to the Consortium duo. But government apologists said it made sense, given that the duo had identifiable residences and so could turn up when needed. It was not the same case for the 25 others, they argued.
Judicial supervision means that the two leaders are released from prison but are “bound by a number of obligations that the court will determine,” Claude Assira, one of the lawyers, told AFP.
The prosecution argued that any decision to release the duo on bail should be accompanied by measures that prohibit them from leaving the country including a monetary deposit. The judges then adjourned the trial until June 7, when they will rule on the request for bail.
Agbor Balla, a lawyer, and Neba Fontem, a university professor, are the main protagonists of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society consortium (CACSC), banned in January by the authorities after they called for strikes in English-speaking areas of the country against marginalization charges.
The case which first came up for hearing February 13 was later adjourned to March 23rd and after that was again adjourned to April 27th and later to May 24th. The latest adjournment is for June 7, making it the 5th time it is consecutively being adjourned.

edevnews.blogspot.com/Email:francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel:+237696896001//+237678401408/+237669542467

No comments:

Post a Comment