CI-NEWS

Barrister John Fru Nsoh sacked as Lead Counsel for Ayuk Tabe and co!

2019-06-25

No: 433

Barrister John Fru Nsoh sacked as Lead Counsel for Ayuk Tabe and co!

The lead counsel of the detained Ambazonia leaders, Barrister John Fru Nsoh, has been sacked for unprofessional conduct, the press has been told. Announcing the decision during a press conference in Yaounde, lawyers of the detained separatist leaders said Barrister Fru John Nsoh had recused himself following his various media outings which they considered reckless and unprofessional.

During a press conference in Yaounde, coordinated by Barrister Amungwa Nicodemus, Chairman of the media and communication committee for the defence team of Ayuk Tabe& nine ors, and all Southern Cameroonians held in prisons and other detention houses, Assistant lead Counsel Paddy Yong said the decision was taken unanimously by the college of lawyers..

Barrister Nsoh’s media outings were “unprofessional, unethical and illegal,” the lawyers said while adding that his attitude betrays the fiduciary duty that he owes his clients.

Consequently, Barrister John Fru Nsoh has recused himself as lead counsel and any actions that he undertakes will have not bearing on the trial of their clients going forward, the lawyers concluded.

Barrister Nsoh, however, remains a member of the college of some 200 lawyers, they indicated.

The press conference was an opportunity for the defence team to inform the public reliably on what has been happening in the case since government has failed to do so. In an executive summary read out, eight points were given to buttress the theme: Travesty of justice in the Sissiku Ayuk Tabe and nine others’ case.

They hinged on their illegal abduction of their clients who were certified refugees or confirmed asylum seekers; their continued trial by a military tribunal without ruling on their preliminary objections and using a foreign language; as well as recusal of the bench by the accused.

Fielding questions from journalists, Paddy Yong said the use of interpreters in the case was wrong, insisting that in as far as their clients were English-Speaking, the court was “obligated” to carry on proceedings in the language understood by them.

On the tricky issue of nationality, one of the lawyers said only a certificate of nationality was a legal document to ascertain it. He said it was admissible for anyone to renounce his nationality at any point in time.

The invigorated counsel vowed to take their appeal on writ of Habeas corpus to international jurisdictions should Cameroon’s Supreme Court throw it out.

Meantime, it was explained that they were going round all the courts in Cameroon containing Anglophone detained as a result of the crisis to defend them.

Their outing came just 24 hours to the trial of the detained leaders which resumed at the Yaounde Military tribunal last Thursday.

During the session which lasted for just about 9 minutes, the judge told the audience that he had been served a recusal and adjourned the case to 9 July 2019.

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Barrister John Fru Nsoh sacked as Lead Counsel for Ayuk Tabe and co!