On the occasion of the celebration of the international day against capital punishment all planned today, 10 October, a forum to put an end to this judicial practice was held Thursday, October 09, 2014 in Douala.
As a prelude to the international day against death penalty, scheduled, Friday, October 10, 2014, a forum for the abolition of the death penalty was held Thursday, October 9, 2014 in Douala under the theme: "the universal abolition of the death penalty.
This event which was attended by Christine Robichon, Ambassador of France in Cameroon is organized by the Non-Governmental Organisation called rights and peace.
He was among other organizers questioned Cameroonian citizens in general and policy-makers, in particular on the need for the abolition of the death penalty; strengthen the capacity of human rights defenders so that they take initiatives in favour of the death penalty; strengthen the capacity of lawyers to enable them to understand their roles in the abolition of the death penalty and establish a network of abolitionists in Cameroon.
Cameroon is part of the last countries in the world that still retain the death penalty in their legal arsenal. Even if the death penalty is not applied since fifteen years on the national territory, this penalty provided for by the penal code continues to be imposed in the country's courts.
"The moratorium as currently observed by Cameroon does not exclude the possibility of the execution of inmates. The fate of the latter is based solely on the will of the President of the Republic", says master Nestor Toko, promoter of the NGO rights and peace.
According to him, in the Cameroonian penal code, death penalty is unconstitutional. "The Cameroonian constitution grants to any person, without distinction, the right to life and physical and moral integrity as well as humane treatment in all circumstances", he argued.
According to lawyers, it is the ignorance of the situation of death penalty which is responsible for the maintenance of this sanction in the Cameroonian legal arsenal.
"The official argument advanced by the Government of the Republic, it is that the death penalty would be deterrent, which isn't true at all because nowhere and no study has ever demonstrated that the abolition of the death penalty was generating growth of crime.
On the contrary, we saw in countries such as Canada where the abolition of the death penalty has rather had a positive effect.
The second reason put forward by the Government, was that public opinion is favorable but there still, we say that the public does not have a good understanding of death penalty," says Me Nestor Toko, lawyer jn Cameroon.
Forum for the abolition, organized 09 October 2014 in Douala returned in the context of the global campaign for the abolition of the death penalty launched in 2000 with the creation of the association together against death Penalty (ECPM)
