Cameroon's jailed opposition leader released
Updated 12:27, 06-Oct-2019
CGTN
01:13

A Cameroonian opposition leader was released Saturday afternoon after President Paul Biya halted the prosecution of some jailed militants and leaders of the opposition in the country.

Maurice Kamto, president of Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM), "is free at last," Olivier Nissack, spokesperson of CRM, tweeted shortly after a military court in the capital, Yaounde, declared them free.

On Friday, Biya ordered the discontinuance of the legal proceedings in a bid "to promote an atmosphere of peace, fraternity and concord," according to a statement by Secretary General at the Presidency Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh.

The decision came in the wake of a national dialogue to end separatist conflict in Anglophone regions, said Ngoh, stressing that Biya was determined to resolve "any crisis" in the country peacefully.

Kamto and nearly 200 militants of the party were arrested in January after they organized protests to denounce "electoral fraud" and "useless war in Anglophone regions."

Kamto was later charged by a military court with rebellion, insurrection and "hostility to the homeland."

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency