Cameroon; questionable jail conditions: Reporters Without Borders Urges Gov’t To Free Jailed Former CRTV GM

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a renowned international nongovernmental organization seeking to safeguard the safety of journalists worldwide has urged authorities in Cameroon to free detained former General Manager of Cameroon Radio Television, CRTV, Amadou Vamoulké before it is too late.

The group in a report published cited a letter penned by the detained journalists to the Minister of Justice in which he revealed at least two of his cellmates have contracted deadly COVID-19 in recent days.

“This journalist, who has been held for years in a completely illegal manner, is now in danger of dying because of his age and poor state of health,” said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk. He added that: “Keeping him in detention in these conditions cannot be justified on any grounds. We urge the Cameroonian authorities to free him before it is too late”.

In his letter to Minister Laurent Esso as reported by RSF, the former boss of broadcaster, reveals one of his eight cellmates has just returned with “suffocating chest pains” from a brief spell in hospital. He said according to the detainee, another of their cellmates is still hospitalised with COVID-19 and has “40% of his lungs damaged,” and that a third cellmate has symptoms of the virus and has just been placed under medical supervision.

71-year-old Vamoulké in the letter expresses amazement at the way the justice minister has “declared war” on him and says he is aware that his open letter could result in his being transferred to “an even more inhuman place of incarceration” such as the defence ministry’s prison.

“But this matters little to me because, without ever having embezzled anything, I have already spend 1,708 days in illegal incarceration,” he noted in the conclusion of the letter.

Vamoulke’s trial according to RSF is being conducted in a completely illegally manner with a record number of 64 hearings held without getting any closer to reaching a verdict. He is locked up at the Kondengui maximum security prison built to house 1,000 inmates but currently holds around 3,500.

He has been in detention since July 2016 while being subjected to a never-ending trials on a charge of “misusing funds” at the CRTV which he ran 2005 till his arrest.

Vamoulke according to RSF has several chronic ailments including a neurological condition described as “severe” by two neurologists who have examined him or seen his medical file and who agree that he needs medevac king for treatment abroad.

The United Nations has also called for Vamoulké’s release following complaints from RSF a year ago on the grounds that his detention had “no legal basis.” 

The violations of his right to due process were so serious that they conferred an “arbitrary character” on his detention, the UN said. Cameroon is ranked 134th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

By Doh Bertrand Nua