International Jurists Urge Non-Recognition of Biya’s Swearing-In

“When a State despises the law, it summons chaos. When a people are betrayed, they summon History.”

The declaration argues that Cameroon is undergoing a “rupture between law and power” since the disputed vote that handed Biya another term — a process jurists describe as a coup d’État électoral built on repression and narrative control.

Four Core Demands

1. Suspension of the swearing-in until an international audit is conducted.

2. Immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners detained over the electoral crisis.

3. Establishment of a fact-finding mission on post-election violence.

4. Recognition of the people’s right to contest authority without persecution.

The collective cites UN data reporting 48 civilian deaths during peaceful protests in Douala, Garoua, Maroua, Yaoundé and other cities — describing a campaign of bullets “against bare hands, batons against voices.”

Jurists Name the Victims

They highlight the arrests of opposition figures Anicet Ekane, Djeukam Tchameni, and Professor Aba’a Oyono, along with the reported kidnapping of members of President-elect Issa Tchiroma Bakary’s family.

“This regime no longer governs — it controls. It no longer convinces — it sanctions.”

The document calls Biya’s administration a “low-intensity dictatorship sustained by fear.”

Appeal to the International Community

The jurists accuse global powers of silence, saying every hour without reaction “erodes the credibility of human-rights discourse.” They urge:

• The United States to speak out for democracy;

• The European Union to end its post-colonial ambiguity;

• The African Union, CEMAC, and ECOWAS to uphold their own democratic charters;

• The Francophonie to “choose between language and principle.”

Final Warning

“When a regime lies at this scale, it knows the truth could kill it.
When a State kills to stand upright, it is already on its knees.”

The statement ends with a stark message to world capitals:

“We do not tell you what to do; we tell you what will happen if you do nothing.
On the day of reckoning, remember — the law will have spoken.”

Signed in Yaoundé, Paris, Washington and Geneva on 6 November 2025 by Maîtres Dior Diagne, Jemal Taleb, Claude Cuelho, Eric Diamantis, Benjamin Gründler, and Moustapha Ndoye, on behalf of the Collectif des Juristes pour la Vérité, la Justice et l’État de Droit.