Three journalists charged with plot to overthrow Paul Biya

...Summoned before a Yaounde Military Tribunal

Three journalists, Felix Ebole Bola of Mutations daily, Rodrigue Tongue of Le Messager and Baba Wame, lecturer at the Advanced School of Mass Communication, were yesterday October 28, summoned before a Yaounde military tribunal, officially accused of conniving with one of the legal advisers of Marafa Hamidou Yaya, detained former Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, to overthrow the Biya regime.

Abdoulaye Harrisou, Marafa’s legal adviser it should be recalled, was Tuesday October 21, charged for possession of arms, outrage against Biya and masterminding an attack allegedly perpetrated by rebels of the Central African Republic in the east region of Cameroon recently.

One Aboubakar Sidiki, a politician arrested alongside Harissou was also accused of the same crime. Both were charged in their prison cells at the Kondengui prison by two magistrates of the military court in the presence of their lawyers, Jacques Mbuny and Sebastien Song.

Lt. Colonel Asse was part of the mobile court which charged the detained politician and Marafa’s legal adviser of plotting a coup against the regime. They accused them of writing a letter to two journalists in which they stated that Biya is physically and politically unfit to govern Cameroon.

Three days after receiving the letters, (last Friday) the two journalists were served letters of summons by a bailiff, to appear before the military court.

Both journalists revealed that they were accused of concealing information that was contain in a letter, sent to them by detained, Harissou through the ASMAC lecturer; information which the state claims is capable of sparking a civil unrest.

The summons suggested that the journalists were supposed to report the receipt of the letters to judicial or military authorities.

The accused pressmen have, however, stated that they have never received any letter from Harissou. They have not been accused of publishing any information that was contained in the letter or using it for any purpose.

Sources however say the two journalists actually received written documents from Harissou on July 23 and 25 this year. The same source however, intimated that journalists do receive documents from people every day but what matters is what they do with them.

The accusations levied against all the five individuals, are allegedly drawn from a report from the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in Charge of Defence, Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o.