Rebecca Enonchong, an influential businesswoman, was arrested and taken into custody earlier this week in Douala. The reasons for his arrest remain largely unclear. These lawyers deno ...

Cameroon: custody of businesswoman Rebecca Enonchong raises criticism

Cameroonian businesswoman Rebecca Enonchong at the African business angels network annual meeting, November 2016 © AbanAngels / Facebook

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

Rebecca Enonchong, an influential businesswoman, was arrested and taken into custody earlier this week in Douala.

The reasons for his arrest remain largely unclear.

These lawyers denounce a "

serious abuse of authority

" on the part of the judicial system while many political voices and civil society demand his release.

Publicity

With our correspondent in Yaoundé,

Polycarpe Essomba

Despite the support pouring in on the web, under the hashtag #FreeRebecca, Rebecca Enonchong will spend a third consecutive night at the Douala gendarmerie.

Tuesday morning August 10, the businesswoman requested the regrouping of all the procedures with the same investigator in a family dispute.

An approach that the Attorney General at the High Court of Douala, which then heard behind closed doors, would have deemed cavalier.

He would then have urgently called for his arrest for "

contempt of court

" and had him taken directly to the Legion of the Coastal Gendarmerie, without filing a prior complaint and without being able to call on a lawyer.

While his lawyers were hoping for release this Thursday, August 12, they were notified of the extension of police custody for "

hearing of certain witnesses

A reason unfounded in law and totally illegal protest his lawyers.

A woman critic of power

The affair has been in hot throats in Douala, especially in political circles and associations.

Maximilienne Ngombe, defender of human rights, thus denounced "

a whim and an excess of zeal on the part of this magistrate

", while several Western chancelleries, including France and Canada have expressed their concerns and called for his release.

Human rights defenders suspect a political affair. New technology entrepreneur, Rebecca Enonchong co-founded Appstech, a professional software company, as well as two investor networks to encourage African tech. She chairs Afrilabs, the largest pan-African network of technological innovation centers. Winner of several international distinctions, Rebecca Enonchong is considered one of the most powerful women in Africa.

Forbes

magazine

ranked her among the ten Founding Tech Women to observe in Africa during 2014.

However, Rebecca Enonchong does not have her tongue in her pocket.

For example, she criticizes the policy of the authorities in the English-speaking region of Cameroon.

She is one of the 20 women who wrote to the International Monetary Fund to stop paying money to Cameroon, because of its mismanagement of Covid funds, the famous

Cameroon: custody of businesswoman Rebecca Enonchong raises criticism

Cameroon: custody of businesswoman Rebecca Enonchong raises criticism

A woman critic of power

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