What changed

B100233/2025

European Parliament resolution on the prosecution of journalists in Cameroon, notably the cases of Amadou Vamoulké, Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka, Mancho Bibixy, Thomas Awah Junior and Tsi Conrad

Motion for a European Parliament resolution on the prosecution of journalists in Cameroon, notably the cases of Amadou Vamoulké, Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka, Mancho Bibixy, Thomas Awah Junior and Tsi Conrad

(2025/2627(RSP))

– having regard to itsRules previous150(5) resolutionand on136(4) Cameroon,of its Rules of Procedure,

having regard to Rule 150(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas press freedom in Cameroon is deteriorating; whereas the Cameroonian Constitution recognises freedom of expression and fundamental rights; whereas journalists are routinely detained, attacked, censored, and imprisoned on anti-state, criminal defamation, ‘fake news’, and retaliatory charges while reporting on the crisis in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions;

whereas press freedom is severely restricted in Cameroon; whereas journalists face frequent detention, attacks and imprisonment; whereas the charges brought against them are often based on unsubstantiated information, defamation and false news;

B. whereas Cameroon uses lengthy pre-trial and arbitrary detention; whereas journalists have been held incommunicado and convictions are handed down by military courts, among other serious violations of fair trial and due process rights;

whereas Cameroon has one of the highest rates in Africa of imprisoning journalists; whereas the state-controlled judiciary makes extensive use of pre-trial and arbitrary detention, holding detainees incommunicado, and undertaking trials in military courts; whereas these practices violate due process rights and the right to a fair trial;

C. whereas the UN Committee against Torture, Freedom House and the Committee to Protect Journalists recently reported that Cameroon’s police, gendarmes and other government agents have arrested, detained, physically attacked and intimidated journalists and that, once detained, journalists are often ill-treated, tortured and killed;

whereas Amadou Vamoulké, former managing director of the state-owned Cameroon Radio and Television, was arrested in 2016 and detained until his sentencing in 2022; whereas he appeared in court more than 140 times and was sentenced to 12 years in prison for alleged embezzlement; whereas in 2024 he was sentenced to an additional 20 years;

D. whereas Tsi Conrad, Mancho Bibixy, Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka and Thomas Awah Junior are journalists who reported on the situation in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, including on abuses perpetrated during the armed conflict and ongoing civil unrest; whereas Amadou Vamoulké, a journalist in poor health, was sentenced to 32 years in prison for his independent management of the state broadcaster;

whereas freelance journalist Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka was tried in a military court and sentenced in 2024 to 10 years for alleged secession and complicity in an armed group;

E. whereas the journalists Martinez Zogo, Jean-Jacques Ola Bebe, Samuel Wazizi and Anye Nde Nsoh were killed between August 2019 and May 2023, and serious questions about accountability remain unanswered;

whereas filmmaker Tsi Conrad, journalist Thomas Awah Junior and radio host Mancho Bibixy were tried in a military court in 2018 and sentenced to between 11 and 15 years in prison for alleged secession, hostility against the state and spreading fake news; whereas they were sentenced to additional jail time for protesting poor prison conditions;

F. whereas the EU is Cameroon’s leading trade partner;

whereas their trials were marred by long pre-trial detention and subsequent long delays in the appeals procedure;

1. Condemns the structural violations of journalists’ human rights by the Cameroonian authorities, calls on those authorities to ensure that press freedom is respected, particularly in the run-up to Cameroon’s 2025 presidential elections, and urges them to immediately and unconditionally release Amadou Vamoulké, Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka, Mancho Bibixy, Thomas Awah Junior and Tsi Conrad and ensure, in the meantime, that their basic rights are upheld and that they have access to medical treatment;

whereas Conrad, Bibixy, Awah and Njoka were charged with anti-state actions relating to the reporting of the conflict in the English-speaking Northwest region; whereas thousands of people have been killed and over one million displaced as a result of the Anglophone conflict;

2. Calls for the EU and the Member States to raise cases of detained journalists with the Cameroonian authorities; calls for the EU to use its diplomatic and economic leverage to achieve tangible improvements in human rights in Cameroon;

whereas Vamoulké, Awah Junior, Njoka and Bibixy reportedly have health problems in prison;

3. Urges the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States’ diplomatic missions to actively respond to restrictions against journalists, including by ensuring comprehensive observation of trials, visiting journalists in detention and maintaining active contact with marginalised or at-risk journalists and with their families and colleagues;

whereas civil society organisations have reported that media censorship is increasing in advance of the 2025 elections in Cameroon;

4. Urges the Cameroonian authorities to end their practice of trying civilians in military courts, which does not comply with international law, and to stop abusively invoking terrorism, anti-state and ‘fake news’ charges in cases against journalists;

Expresses deep concern at the continued severe restrictions on press freedom in Cameroon;

5. Reiterates its call on the Member States to support a UN Human Rights Council fact-finding mission to Cameroon, particularly in light of the conflict in the North-West and South-West Regions;

Calls on the Cameroonian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Amadou Vamoulké, Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka, Mancho Bibixy, Thomas Awah Junior, Tsi Conrad; urges the authorities to ensure in the interim that their basic rights are upheld and access to medical treatment is ensured;

6. Calls on the Member States to facilitate humanitarian visa applications for Cameroonian journalists at risk of persecution;

Underlines the fundamental right of freedom of expression; calls on the Cameroonian authorities to protect and defend the rights of journalists to undertake their work free from harassment, intimidation, attacks and arrest;

7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the VP/HR and the President, Government and Parliament of Cameroon.

Calls on the Delegation of the EU to Cameroon to continue observing trials and maintaining contact with journalists to support a safe environment for press freedom;

Calls on the Cameroonian authorities to ensure independent and transparent investigations are undertaken on attacks and killing of journalists;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the HR/VP, and the President, Government and Parliament of Cameroon.