Lawyer Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla released
Cameroon
Lawyer Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla from Cameroon was released on 31 August 2017. A presidential decree of 30 August 2017, read on national public radio and television, ordered to drop all charges against the lawyer. A day later, the Military Tribunal of Yaounde confirmed the decision to release Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla.
Agbor-Balla was arrested in January 2017 on suspicion of wide-ranging and serious charges, including ‘Hostilities against the Fatherland’ and incitement to civil war and revolution. Agbor-Balla is the President of the Fako Lawyers’ Association and heads the now banned Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) which represents anglophone lawyers and teachers. He was involved in recent negotiations with the Government of Cameroon to settle unrest between its anglophone and francophone populations. On 17 January 2017, after organising peaceful protests to promote the rights of the English-speaking minority in Cameroon, Agbor-Balla was arrested by special forces and detained in a prison in Yaoundé. Furthermore, the activities of the CACSC were banned.
The start of the trial against Agbor-Balla was postponed several times. A presidential decree of 30 August 2017, read on national public radio and television, ordered to drop all charges against the lawyer. A day later, the Military Tribunal of Yaounde confirmed the decision to release Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla.
After his arrest, many organizations, including Lawyers for Lawyers, called for the release of Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla. We will continue to closely monitor the situation in Cameroon.