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Cameroon: A Second Journalist Sentenced in Case of "Homosexual Lists"
29 Mar 2006- On 24 March 2006, a Yaoundé first instance court
handed down a double sentence to Ayisi Biloa, the publication director
for the Yaoundé-based "Nouvelle Afrique", for six months' imprisonment.
Biloa was accused of libelling Jean-Pierre Mayo and Grégoire Owona, a
Cameroonian medical doctor and minister in charge of relationships with
assemblies, respectively.
The journalist was sentenced to pay
a 3 million and 1 million FCFA (approx. 4,500 and 1,500 euros)fine,
respectively, to each of the plaintiffs for damages. According to
charges against Biloa, he named Mayo and Owona in a "list of homosexuals
of Cameroon" published in a "Nouvelle Afrique" January issue.
This sentence is the second one
handed down by the same court for the same case. On 3 March, Jean Pierre
Belinga Amougou, publication director for the Yaoundé-based "L'Anecdote",
was sentenced to four months' imprisonment and a fine of 1 million FCFA
(approx. 1,500 euros). Amougou was charged with libelling the same
Grégoire Owona, whose name had been retaken on a "list of homosexuals of
Cameroon", published in January by "L'Anecdote".
Overall, from January to early
February, more than ten complaints concerning defamation have been filed
with the Yaoundé Court against journalists and their papers. The latter
have been given several names of religious leaders, artists, athletes
and politicians of Cameroon, accused of being homosexuals.
In Cameroon, homosexuality is a
breach of law that can cost one from six months to five years'
imprisonment and a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 FCFA (approx. 30 to 300
euros).
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