It turns out there is quite a back story to the recent military trial of six civilian academics in Cameroon. According to this account, they had been illegally deported from Nigeria. Excerpt:
[Barrister Paddy] Yong said the trial had not been open to the public and had gone ahead despite him raising two major objections.The Nigerian High Court in Abuja found that the professors had been illegally abducted.
“When the trial was to commence, I raised two fundamental objections. First, I objected to the fact the military tribunal was headed by Lieutenant Colonel Misse Njone Jacques Beaudoin and that five other high-ranking military officers were members of the presiding panel. I objected to the fact that those accused were civilians who did not participate in any military uprising.
“My second objection was to the fact of the trial being conducted in French. My clients are Anglophone Cameroonians. Therefore, the trial should be held in English.”
Yong said his two objections were rejected. “But the trial continued. My role was reduced to that of an observer,” he said.
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