Cameroon court frees writer accused of threatening President Biya
Dr Patrice Nganang. A court freed him on December 27, 2017 and ordered him expelled from Cameroon. PHOTO | NDI EUGENE NDI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The court ordered his expulsion from Cameroon.
- Patrice Nganang's Cameroonian passport was impounded when he was detained on December 6, but he also has a US passport.
YAOUNDÉ
A Cameroon court on Wednesday freed dissident author Patrice Nganang, who was accused of threatening President Paul Biya on social media, and ordered him to be expelled from the country, the media reported.
The court in the capital Yaoundé ordered an end to legal proceedings against Nganang, which began with his arrest on December 6, according to reports citing the writer’s lawyer.
POLITICAL
The prize-winning author had been due to face trial on January 19 on charges earlier outlined by lawyer Emmanuel Simh as seeking to justify crime, contempt and assault threats.
He pleaded not guilty during the first hearing on December 15, when Simh denounced “a trial of a purely political nature (...) against someone with known and decisive positions against Mr Biya’s regime”.
On Wednesday morning, the author was taken to the courthouse where the state prosecutor simply asked for his release.
EXPELLED
Members of Nganang’s circle said that he was to be expelled from Cameroon as soon as administrative formalities were complete on Wednesday.
His Cameroonian passport was impounded when he was detained in the economic capital Douala on December 6 while planning to leave for Zimbabwe, but Mr Nganang also has a US passport.
Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said the writer was accused of threatening to shoot Biya in a Facebook post.
The post was allegedly written after the writer’s return from a visit to the Anglophone west of the largely Francophone country, which sought to unite disparate territories after independence in 1960.
