The African Union Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AUCHPR) has declared its competence to hear a complaint lodged by Edouard Etonde Ekotto, former Board Chair of the Douala Port Authority against Cameroon for ‘wrongful detention’.

Lawyers of Etonde Ekotto who was released on May 6, after spending eight years at the central prison in Douala, insist their client was wrongfully detained and that all along, he has been a victim of judicial harassment.

Assira Engoute, lawyer of the former Government Delegate to the then-Douala Urban Council was notified of the commission’s decision to admit the complaint on May 29.

“I have the honor to inform you that during the 55th Ordinary Session held from 28 April to 12 May in Luanda, Angola, the African Union Commission on Human and Peoples Rights examined case 415/12 - Edouard Nathanael Etonde Ekotto/Cameroon and declared it admissible,’ read a correspondence from the commission.

“In accordance with Article 108 (1) of the internal rules of the Commission, you are requested to submit details of your case to the Secretariat within sixty (60) days from the date of this notification,” the correspondence also read.

The Journal has learnt that in the complaint against the State of Cameroon, Ekotto and his lawyers argued that the former Government Delegate has been a victim of judicial persecution by the Cameroonian authorities since December 29, 2006, when criminal proceedings were initiated against him before the Wouri Court of

First Instance. Ekotto states in the complaint that he was accused of misappropriating public funds, an act committed in the course of his duties when he served as Board Chair of the Douala Port Authority. The procedure, he noted, led to his sentence to 15 years in jail on December 13, 2007. The sentence was again confirmed on June 11, 2009 by the Littoral Court of Appeal.

He told AUCHPR that for five years, his appeal against the sentence was blocked at the Supreme Court adding that the judicial harassment continued with new criminal proceedings brought against him for the same offense following an article in a newspaper report alleging acts of embezzlement during his tenure as Government Delegate. Ekotto indicated that all efforts tending to steer the process towards the establishment of the truth was systematically rejected. He equally complained about the seizure of his residence and his property – seizure he claimed was made in defiance of proper administration of justice.

Based on these, the AU rights Commission declared admissible the complaint in accordance with Article 56 of the African Charter. The Case will be examined at the commission’s next session where both parties are expected to submit their arguments.