Enoh Meyomesse

Enoh Meyomesse, a Cameroonian writer and blogger was arrested on November 22, 2011, at Nsimalen airport in Yaoundé, Cameroon, on his way back from Singapore. Charged with robbery by the military court of Bertoua, in the east of the country, he is now detained at Nkondengui prison in Yaoundé, where Amnesty International has documented severe over-crowding and life-threatening conditions.

Enoh Meyomesse's testimony

Meyomesse has been able to meet Jean-Bosco Talla, a journalist from Cameroonian newspaper Germinal, who visited him in Nkondengui prison on December 31, 2011. Meyomesse told the story of his arrest:

"If I remember correctly, when I returned to Cameroon on November 22, 2011, I saw two people waving my photo in the lobby of the Nsimalen International Airport (…) I walked up to these people to find out what was happening and try to understand why they were waving my picture. Suddenly, one of them informs me that I'm under arrest. Only later did I learn that the person I talked to was Colonel Oumarou Ngalibou, commander of the gendarmerie in eastern Cameroon. I was then forcibly led to the Secretariat of State for Defence (Sed) in Yaoundé. It was during the interrogation, when investigators asked me to reveal our weapons cache, that I learned that I was accused of being the leader of a gang of robbers in collusion with foreign forces trying to foment a coup. (…)

On December 21, 2011, an officer came to ask us to prepare. When we exited our cells, we were surprised to find ourselves in the midst of a crowd in the courtyard of the gendarmerie in Bertoua. Everything was staged so that we would be introduced to the public as common criminals. It was said that almost all authorities in the town of Bertoua were present. Citizens, journalists, photographers were also there. Handcuffed, they gave each of us papers on which they had written down our name, age and the alleged reason for our arrest. (…) It was after this spectacle we were transferred to Yaoundé. On Thursday, December 22, 2011, we were appeared briefly before the military court which decided to detain us at the Central Prison of Kondengui."

A fundraising campaign has been launched by Internet Sans Frontières (Internet Without Borders) to assemble a team of international lawyers who will ensure that Enoh Meyomesse receives the legal defense he is entitled to.