Marafa's Appearance in Court Pulls Crowd

 

Former Minister Marafa Hamidou Yaya appeared in court yesterday, July 16, 2012 in what appears to be one of the most spectacular court cases in Cameroon.  Former Minister and former Secretary General at the Presidency, Marafa Hamidou Yaya, imprisoned since April for alleged embezzlement became a celebrated prison when he engaged in fight with the regime he served through “open letters”. Marafa Hamidou Yaya is indeed preceded by his published letters from prison. In his letters, he maintains his innocence and has claimed he is a victim of court intrigues, but also accuses some of his former colleagues of corruption.
Thus, his revelations about the deadly crash of an airliner in 1995 grabbed headlines in the country. He revealed how the money that would have been used to compensate the families of the victims was hijacked by some personalities still in government.

He is accused of embezzlement in connection with the acquisition of a presidential aircraft in 2001. It was when he was all-powerful secretary general to the presidency. Today, from his prison cell, he says he is quite ready to be heard by the courts.

There was a strong mobilization of Cameroonians who stormed the Mfoundi Court to listen to the former MINATD and Fotso closely. The gendarmes were in battle with the crowd as everyone engaged in a push-push to catch a view of the celebrated prisoner On his arrival in the company of Yves Michel Fotso, the crowd cheered and people shouted "President", "President". Journalists also stormed the court despite the veto that no one was allowed in!
Yet, Marafa and Yves were not handed the charges against them. The defense lawyers have challenged the very short time to conduct a thorough study of the case, but were finally terminated at the temporal margin. So everything will resume Tuesday, July 24, next week at 11 pm and the hearings will be held daily. The judge said he wanted to quickly end the case because he said it was too often reproached for Justice she was too "slow". Some people responded by saying: "In any case, the verdict is already known and that Biya is the only true judge of Cameroon", "What if this trial is political and as long as Biya will stay in Etoudi,  Marafa , Fotso never find freedom "as was the case Mebara.
They are accused of planning the siphoning money intended for the purchase of the presidential plane. The hearing lasted about 1 h. When Marafa stormed out of the court, the crowd had increased and the forces of law and order had difficulties controlling. In fact, the exit of the accused created a tense atmosphere. It was hot as the crowd cheered Marafa, called him Excellency, our President; the latter greeted him back with a lot enthusiasms and healthy way! Very unanimous, we have set an appointment next Tuesday to listen to each other in this trial received a great deal of saliva right now! That's roughly what I could say without claiming to have carried the story so well.

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