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Cameroon: Marafa Hamidou's detention is arbitrary for Yaya UN
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considers that the Cameroonian former minister of territorial administration, Marafa Hamidou Yaya, has been detained in violation of international law, and calls for his immediate release. © Alex Potemkin / Getty images
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considers that the Cameroonian former minister of territorial administration, Marafa Hamidou Yaya, has been detained in violation of international law, and calls for his immediate release. Marafa Hamidou Yaya was arrested in 2012 and sentenced to 25 years in jail for intellectual complicity and embezzlement in a case aborted purchase of a presidential plane in 2001. The UN Working Group did not comment the political nature of his detention, but he recognizes multiple irregularities in the proceedings against him.
For the UN working group , Marafa Hamidou Yaya was not entitled to a fair trial, in violation of international law. Experts point several irregularities: poorly defined loads or a defense undermined, who has not had access to the file before the trial. " The accused has not had access to his lawyers continuously and the lawyers themselves have not been provided to prepare the case and defend the case ," said Roland Adjovi, a member of the expert group UN.
They conclude that the conviction and detention of Marafa Hamidou Yaya are not justified and asked the Cameroonian government to release him, and give it the appropriate repairs. " If the state has reason to sue him, there must be a new trial respecting all rights to accept ," explains Roland Adjovi.
Notice that value of obligation for the State of Cameroon. " It is required (to respect this opinion) morally and legally because the texts say it must comply. But if they do not, nothing can punish them , "says the expert of the UN.
The group was seized in spring 2015 by a source who shall remain nameless. The file was then communicated in July 2015 Cameroon government which had a right of reply.
Given the evidence, experts say, the hidden reason for the instrumentalization of justice remain the order of speculation. However, they point out that the arrest of Marafa occurred seven years after the fact, but just months after the WikiLeaks revelations. Revelations that the United States considered him a potential successor to President Paul Biya.
Marafa Hamidou Yaya is currently held in Yaoundé. Last May, in response to his appeal, the Supreme Court upheld his conviction while reducing his sentence of five years.
Can we draw a parallel with the Michel Thierry Atangana case?
In November 2013, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had condemned the detention of Michel Thierry Atangana, a French-Cameroonian businessman then imprisoned in Cameroon.
Three months later, President Paul Biya had granted a remission, allowing his release.
Can we draw a parallel between the two cases?
It is a combination that has nothing to do with the sovereign decision, independent, that President Biya had to make.
Issa Tchiroma-Bakary
02-07-2016 - By Michel Arseneault
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■ Back on the fall of a figure the government of Cameroon
Marafa Hamidou Yaya held several key positions in the government of Paul Biya. In 2000, he was secretary general of the presidency when the Cameroon government decides to acquire a plane for the president. The country is however subject to a structural adjustment program imposed by the IMF.
It is through a financial package and that of a US company that the aircraft will be operated on Boeing. On the bill of $ 31 million, the manufacturer will receive in two. The purchase was finally abandoned, but $ 29 million, which were released by the Cameroonian government, disappear.
It was only in 2012 that Marafa Hamidou Yaya was arrested in connection with the case. Meanwhile, it was nevertheless became Minister in charge of Territorial Administration. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for embezzlement of public funds by coercion with Michel Fotso , former director of the airline Camair.
Since then, the former minister is being held in jail in Yaoundé Secondary, a place of military detention. He never ceased to proclaim his innocence. And denounced a political trial aimed to remove from power.
In ten years, dozens of senior Cameroonian officials have been arrested as part of Operation Sparrowhawk, officially put in place to fight against corruption in the country.
Timeline and key figures
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