Lawyers across the country are on a three-day strike that began on Wednesday, March 5, over what the Bar Council says is persistent physical violence, barbarism, and other humiliating treatment from the forces of law and order.
The men and women in wigs and black robes deserted court sessions in Yaounde and other parts of the country at the start of the industrial action of Wednesday.
This was in respect to a call by the president of the Cameroon Bar Association, Barrister Mbah Eric Mbah that all Advocates abstain from work for three days, from March 5-7.
In a statement on Monday, March 3, the Cameroon Bar Association decried recurrent abuses on lawyers by security forces, saying the violence against lawyers has been undermining “the exercise of the legal profession, the image, integrity, and sanctity of the legal profession”.
The batonnier narrated a gory scene where police officers were caught on camera inflicting violence and other degrading and inhumane acts against an Advocate and other civilians on March 1, 2025. The video of the incident has since gone viral.
“Prior to this, the Bar Council on Friday, February 28, 2025, was informed that another Advocate who had denounced violations of his clients’ rights, had been unlawfully detained by agents and officers of the forces of law and order to force him to retract his statement, which he had to do in order to regain his freedom,” the president of the Cameroon Bar Association said in the statement.
As a result of what the batonnier described as physical violence, barbarism, and other humiliating treatment to which Advocates have recently been subjected by the forces of law and order, the Bar Council met in an extraordinary session on March 3, 2025 for the purpose of an overall examination of the situation.
“It is hereby brought to the attention of Advocates and public opinion that following the said extraordinary session, the Bar Council strongly condemns these recurrent acts of violence that have been widely circulated on social networks and which seriously undermine the exercise of the legal professional, the image, integrity, and sanctity of the legal profession,” the statement reads in part.
Besides the three-day strike action, the Cameroon Bar Council said it has initiated legal proceedings against the perpetrators of the acts of barbarity against advocates, and any possible accomplices.
In addition to tarnishing the image of the profession, the president of the Cameroon Bar association said the attacks endanger the safety and lives of Advocates, the defenders of rights and freedoms.
The attack on lawyers in Cameroon is intended to deter them from doing their job, according to Human Rights Watch. In a December 2, 2024 statement, the international human rights watchdog said arbitrary arrest, harassment, and other forms of police brutality, including verbal and physical assault, against lawyers are common in Cameroon.
The statement followed the brutalization of prominent human rights lawyer, Barrister Tamfu Richard by gendarme officers in Douala for standing up for the right of his client. The incident which took place on November 27, 2024 received an avalanche of condemnation from the civil society organisations and the Cameroon Bar Association.
First published in NewsWatch newspaper No 203 of Thursday, March 6, 2025.
