Lord Justice Paul Ayah Abine, detained at the State Secretariat for Defense (SED), has reportedly sent a letter to the UN Arbitrary Working Group in which he asked the UN body to intervene in his case. The senior Southern Cameroons judge told the UN that ever since his arrest, his defense team has exhausted all domestic avenues but have failed because the Cameroonian justice system has been confiscated by some vicious individuals who manipulate its republican institutions.

Lord Justice Ayah further pointed out in the correspondence to the UN that all the magistrates who examined his case were recently promoted by the Head of State after the last Judicial Council meeting. Under the prevailing circumstances, the former parliamentarian and leader of the People’s Action Party observed that “justice cannot be done in my favor.”

As to the question of whether Justice Ayah thinks that his complaint will yield any fruits, he declared “I keep hope and believe in God. The facts are there, I do not know what is being studied, because I do not even need the lawyers to defend me. The petition in question attacks the form and not the substance of the file. This action follows the same logic as the habeas corpus inscribed in Article 548 of our Code of Criminal Procedure. It is a case of ruling on my case, starting with my arrest, until detention. I just have to be told if the normal procedure has been followed. ”

Paul Ayah Abine added that he is paying the price of his opposition to the amendment of the Constitution in 2008 while he was MP for the ruling CPDM crime syndicate.

By Sama Ernest
Cameroon Intelligence Report