Actualités of Thursday, 7 July 2016

Source: AFP

Lydienne Eyoum pardon generates diverse reactions

Lydienne Yen Eyoum Lydienne Yen Eyoum

The Presidential pardon granted to the French lawyer Lydienne Eyoum has generated diverse public opinion in Cameroon.

Some groups in the country has challenged the pardon after a release from the French Embassy in which Paris recalls its support for the lawyer who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2014 for embezzlement.

Eyoum was arrested in January 2010 and imprisoned by the Special Criminal Court in Yaounde in connection with operation Sparrowhawk.

Now President Paul Biya, has accustomed us to these things, again, in fact liberating Lydienne Eyoum at night, what was the emergency.

However, a human right activist and the Executive Director of REDHAC, Maximilienne Ngo Mbe sees the move as unacceptable.

She wondered why Eyoum was released at night, without a witness.

“Now President Paul Biya, has accustomed us to these things, again, in fact liberating Lydienne Eyoum at night, what was the emergency? What is the agenda? that is the question. The second question is that it must be noted for a fact that she is free but all sanctions remain.” she said.

Eyoum was sentenced in 2014 for the diversion of more than a billion CFA francs in the framework of a case where she represented Cameroon. An amount she has always presented as part of settlement of her fees.

She had already been incarcerated for more than six years.