yaounde 11 man rearrested

By Joel Nana (BTM Fellow)

January 18, 2007: Francois Ayissi, one of the 11 men who were arrested for being gay in Yaoundé in Cameroon has been rearrested.

This time Ayissi is accused by his former employer Eyebe Lebogo, owner of Mask hotel in Mballa II, of allegedly raping Lobogo’s 14 year old mentally ill son.

While Ayissi is remanded in custody, Cameroonian reports state that there is no evidence that he is guilty. On the contrary, gay organizations in Cameroon believe Ayissi’s arrest is another incidence of harassing gay people because of their sexual orientation.

“This is the evidence of the vulnerability of homosexual people in Cameroon especially if their sexual orientation has been exposed either by denunciation, arrest or voluntarily coming out, and it is worse when it is documented that one is gay, they pay for it every single day”, said Charles Gueboguo, Director of programs for Alternatives-Cameroun, a local Human rights organization established to fight homophobia in Cameroon.

Ayissi thinks that Lebogo accused him because he wanted his arrest so he cannot claim money owed by Lebogo. He resumed working for Lebogo after he was released from prison in July 2006.

After finally resigning from work because of not being paid, Ayissi kept calling his employer who had already been released from prison asking for his money. “On the day that I was arrested he said that I must come and take my money. On arrival his brother told me that we must go to the police station and sign a document that will show that Lebogo paid the money owed to me.” When they got to the police station, Ayissi was arrested on charges of rape.

However, the new Penal Code procedure in Cameroon makes Ayissi’s arrest illegal. The code states that a person cannot be held in custody for more than 72 hours without evidence.

Barrister Michel Togue, a Cameroonian lawyer, presently defending three men imprisoned for being homosexual in Kondengui prison said that five years imprisonment is a minimum sentence that Ayissi can get if found guilty.

Ayissi appeared in court on 16 January facing charges of sexual abuse, having sex with a minor of the same-sex.