Lydienne Yen Eyoum's lawyers seek UN's assistance

Lydienne Yen Eyoum, accused of embezzlement of public funds, is in prison for four and a half years, while the penal code provides a maximum pre-trial detention of 18 months.

The lawyers of this French woman, who believe that the whole process is illegal, therefore decided to change the method by questioning the United Nations, specifically the Working Group on arbitrary detention, a group which has already prepared a report on the detention of Michel Thierry Atangana.

‘Lydienne was afraid’, says one of his relatives. And it is for this reason that this procedure is launched only today.

Its partners, as those of the French Michel Thierry Atangana last year, asked the Working Group of the UN on arbitrary detention and the special reports on torture and the independence of judges to investigate conditions of detention and the trial of Lydienne Yen Eyoum.

"These are UN instances that will have to decide in the coming months on the question of knowing if yes or no Lydian Yen Emek suffers arbitrary detention and if she is a victim of inhuman and degrading treatment," explains Me Caroline Wasserman.

A lawyer by profession, Lydienne Yen Eyoum can also count on the support of the Union of lawyers of France.

The latter sent Maxime Cessieux in Cameroon, on mid-June, to prepare a report on the situation of her colleague. For unfair trial, unlawful remand, the Cameroonian penal code provides for up to 18 months.

Meanwhile, Lydienne Yen Eyoum is yet in prison for four years and a half and critics to this are many.

Maxime Cessieux was able to visit the French lawyer at Kondengui prison : "No running water, people who die every day in the infirmary, Deathtrap prison, quarters of major, minor detainees, men, women, mentally ill... it is in absolute horror."

If they denounce the procedure in Cameroon, counsel for Lydienne Yen Eyoum, who filed a complaint in France for arbitrary detention, worry also over inaction by two French judges who instruct this sensitive issue since March, 2013.