CAMEROON: Four Soldiers Sentenced To 10 Years Imprisonment Over Murdere
Four Cameroonian soldiers have reportedly badged ten years imprisonment over execution-style killings of two women and their children in a region where the army is fighting jihadists.
Naija News understands that the military personnel were issued sentenced on Monday, September 21 as a result of the alleged act committed since 2018.
It could be recalled that a video circulated the social media in July 2018, showing Cameroonian soldiers shooting two kneeling, blindfolded women as well as a baby on one of their backs and a girl.
Naija News understands that the Cameroonian government had initially denied the army’s involvement, describing the broadcast as “fake news”.
But after Amnesty International provided credible evidence, the authorities announced that the seven soldiers seen in the video had been arrested and would be prosecuted.
Reports had it that a fifth of the soldiers received a two-year sentence while two were later acquitted.
The military court in the capital Yaounde handed down the murder verdict and sentences after the trial was adjourned several times. The killings took place in Zeleved, in Cameroon’s Far North region where troops have been deployed to fight Boko Haram jihadists carrying out cross-border attacks from Nigeria.
International human rights organisations regularly denounce abuses and crimes committed against civilians by security forces in Cameroon.
In another news, Naija News reported that kidnappers have released Major Jide Ijadare, a retired United States of America Army officer.