SCC: President Biya sacks Attorney General

Émile Zephyrin Nsoga, all-powerful and the first Attorney general at the Special Criminal Court (SCC), has been sacked after a decree was signed by the head of Cameroonian state on Tuesday evening. He was replaced by a woman.

He appointed Attorney General, "Madame Ngounou Tchokontieu Justine Aimée, magistrate of the 2nd hierarchy group and previously Attorney General at the Court of appeal at the North, in place of Mr Nsoga Emile Zéphyrin who admitted to assert his rights to retire," noted the Decree by the head of State.

To some members of the court, in a country where extensions are rather the rule for senior officials, this act by Biya appears as a penalty. It is a repudiation of this brilliant magistrate and more than a simple desire to revitalize the Special Criminal Court.

According to them, the movement by the head of state was held outside a meeting of the Higher Council of the judiciary. The meetings chaired by Biya often precedes measures taken within the judiciary. In addition, this movement was restricted in some jurisdictions.

Relatives of the retired Attorney general, argued that the latter had a different orientation than that desired by his superiors, in the affairs of the multibillionaire, Yves Michel Fotso, and in the case of Gervais Mendo Ze, the former Director of Crtv (state owned media) who was imprisoned with an alleged accomplice and has just been released by the SCC.

Furthermore, the president conducted a minor reshuffling exercise in the country’s courts of appeal of the country. Thus, new prosecutors were appointed in the jurisdictions of the Court of appeal of Adamaoua, North and Northwest. Procurers of the Republic were also appointed the Center and the Southwest.