“The presiding judge of the Court of Appeal of the Centre Region, Mindjimba Mindjimba, flanked by Mr. Njola Crispin and Colonel Mekouabouth, this 17^th day of September 2020, upheld the judgement slammed on appellants by the Trail Military Tribunal, Yaoundé,” said Amungwa Tanyi Nico, Chairman of the Communication and Media Committee for the Defence Team of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and 9 others.

The defense lawyers, in a press release, said: “The judge, without formally opening the session in English (the language of the Appellants), began by announcing that all the matters on the Cause List were to be adjourned, given the fact that the entire panel had been transferred, and that in any case, they will be moving to their new stations by the close of next week. This was the same reason he gave during the last session which held on August 20, 2020. 

“Faithful to his declaration, he adjourned every other matter on the Cause List. Curiously, on the indication of Counsel for Appellants that their matter has not been called, the judge gave instructions to the Registrar to read the names of the Appellants, and the Registrar did same without more. 

“The judge then requested for the file and himself proceeded to re-read the names of the Appellants, without summoning them to dock. 

“In a surprise move, Justice Mindjimba Mindjimba turned to the Legal Department (Respondents) and asked whether they had any observations.

“As soon as he requested for the observations of the Legal Department, Counsel for the Appellants raised an objection which he ignored completely.

“The Commissaire du Gouvernement (state prosecutor), representing the Respondents, surprisingly prayed the court to uphold the proceedings of the trial military tribunal and dismiss the appeal.  

“Justice Mindjimba Mindjimba then ruled that he was suspending the session for fifteen (15) minutes. He resumed in ten (10) minutes and in less than one minute, delivered what he referred to as judgment, dismissing the appeal and upholding the judgment of the trial Military Tribunal Yaoundé that slammed the Appellants with life sentences. 

“It should be noted that from the time the appeal was listed for hearing, Appellants, who are held in the Kondengui Principal Prison (Yaoundé) have never been granted access to their Counsel.” 

The crux

Arrested at the Nera Hotel in Abuja on January 5, 2018, the ten activists were tried before the Yaoundé Military Tribunal in Suit No. OMJD.No. 669/29/11/2018. They were sentenced to life imprisonment on August 20, 2019.

Julius Ayuk Tabe, Cornelius Kwanga, Dr Egbe Orock, Barrister Eyambe Ebai, Dr. Fidelis Nde Che, Dr. Kimeng Henry, Dr. Nfor Ngala Nfor, Prof. Augustine Awasum, Barrister Shufai Blaise and Tassang Wilfred stood trial against the People of Cameroon on charges of secession, terrorism, hostility against the state of Cameroon, revolution and the non-possession of their identity cards among other charges.

In fact, Barrister Ayukotang Ndep Nkongho who is familiar with the case was reported as saying that the ten accused persons were guilty of all the charges levied against them.

According to the verdict that was pronounced by the presiding military judge, Lieutenant Colonel Misse Njone Jacques, defence lawyers said their clients were each sentenced to life jail and were ordered to jointly pay FCFA 250 billion to the civil party and the state as well as jointly pay FCFA 12 billion as cost of the trial or serve an additional five years each.

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe Julius is said to be the President of the Interim Government of Ambazonia, a self-proclaimed country (a geographical allusion to Cameroon’s North West and South West Regions) whose independence separatists have since taken up arms to seek.

Corporate demands by Common Law Lawyers and Anglophone Teachers led to protests in November 2016. The street demonstrations later morphed into running gun battles between security and defence forces and armed separatist fighters in the predominantly English-speaking regions.

Government is said to be exploring a wide range of options to resolve the crisis, including holding talks with stakeholders.