What changed

B100234/2025

P10_TA(2025)0061

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

(2025/2627(RSP))

PE772.512

– having regard to its previous resolutions on Cameroon,

European Parliament resolution of 3 April 2025 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 RuleRules 150150(5) and 136(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas journalists Amadou Vamoulké, Tsi Conrad, Mancho Bibixy, Thomas Awah and Kingsley Njoka are currently detained, facing various charges;

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;

B. whereas freedom of expression is a fundamental right formally recognised in the Constitution of Cameroon, media outlets and individual journalists face ongoing challenges to their freedom and safety; and the government exercises control over the media, including through intimidation tactics, to suppress dissent and silence the press;

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;

C. whereas two journalists have died in government custody under suspicious circumstances since 2010 and the most recent incident occurred in January 2023, when the prominent journalist Martinez Zogo was murdered, soon a month later, another journalist, Jean-Jacques Ola Bebe, was killed on the same day that he was a guest on a radio show and discussed Zogo's murder;

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;

1. Regrets that the Cameroonian government utilises anti-terror, anti-state, and "false news" charges, in addition to criminal defamation legislation, to detain and convict journalists; furthermore, it is observed that the government often employs military tribunals to prosecute journalists, thereby circumventing the right to a fair trial and appeals process that is guaranteed under international law as the cases of Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka, Mancho Bibixy, Thomas Awah Junior, and Tsi Conrad.;

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;

2. Calls for the release of individuals who have been arbitrarily detained for exercising their fundamental right of freedom of expression or association, jailed without substantial evidence, or without due process;

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;

3. Calls on the diplomatic missions to key EU Member States, to actively engage to ease the restrictions against journalists, including visiting journalists in detention, and maintaining active contact with their families and colleagues;

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

4 Calls the Cameroonian authorities to put on end practices of incommunicado detention and to repeal or amend the Suppression of Acts of Terrorism Law that disproportionately targets opposition leaders and allows death penalty sentences for peacefully protesting;

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;

5.2. Calls for the EU and itsthe Member States, as key development partners,States to raise individual cases,cases humanof rightsdetained concernsjournalists with the Cameroonian authorities; calls for the EU to use its diplomatic and economic leverage to achieve tangible improvements in human rights in Cameroon;

6. Express concern that press freedom, liberty of expression and journalist safety in Cameroon has been in decline for more than a decade, noting that is a fundamental pillar of a free society, which is also under pressure in European society;

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;

7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Cameroonian authorities and international institutions.

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;

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;

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

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