On
Cameroon 6 Biya Guards
Convicted For Roughing Up
Journalist Like Guterres and
Dobbins Haven't Been Yet
By Matthew
Russell Lee, CJR PFT NYP
UNITED NATIONS
GATE, July 4 –After
Paul Biya who
has ruled
Cameroon for 37
years on
January 28 had
his opponent
Maurice Kamto
arrested,
Inner City
Press again asked UN
Secretary
General Antonio
Guterres and
his spokesmen for
their comment
and action, if
any. This came
after Guterres
had Inner City
Press roughed
up on 3
July 2018
after it
interviewed Biya's
Ambassador
about the two
men's Budget
Committee
deals and banned
from the UN
since -
Guterres even tried
to get Inner
City Press
banned from
the Park East
Synagogue,
here, which
was denied /
dodged by his
French spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, who put
up then took
down a podcast
in which he
brags about
his "mutually
assured
destruction"
relationship
with
journalists, here.
After
Guterres on June
28 tried
to erase his
failure and
failure of
credibility on
Cameroon by
embracing an
attempt to
mediate by
Switzerland, in
Geneva Swiss
police used
tear gas against
protesters
of Biya's
corruption,
right in front
of the UN. Given
Guterres'
track records,
perhaps it
was this that
he was welcoming.
Then
even the Swiss
police arrested
for
roughing up a
journalist six
of Biya's guards
- in the way
the NYPD has yet to
act on
Guterres' abusive
guards Ronald
E. Robbins, who
roughed up
Inner City
Press after it
questioned
Cameroon's
ambassador here,
and others who
didn't give
their names, here.
On July
4 six
members of the
Cameroonian
president's
security staff
have been
given
suspended
prison
sentences in
Switzerland
over an attack
on a
journalist,
the Geneva
prosecution
authority said
Thursday.
The six — five
men and a
woman — “have
been
criminally
convicted”,
the Geneva
attorney-general's
office said... The
journalis filed
a criminal
complaint
stating he was
assaulted by a
group of men
outside
Geneva's
luxury
Intercontinental
Hotel, where
Biya is
believed to
have been
staying since
June 23.
He said he had
been filming a
clash between
about a dozen
demonstrators
against
Cameroon's
86-year-old
president and
members of the
president's
security
detail, when
they attacked
him and
grabbed his
equipment,
wallet and
phone.
He was
slightly
injured in the
assault and
his
possessions
were
damaged.
The attack
spurred Bern
to summon
Cameroon's
ambassador
last week,
describing the
incident as
“unacceptable”
and adding
“freedom of
the press is
protected and
must be
respected."
Guterres does
not agree.
This contrasts
with the total
impunty for
Guterres'
guards
including Lt Ronald E. Dobbins
- now
there is a
"new" head of
security, now
in charge of a
banned listing
that is
entirely political -
we'll have
more on this.
Guterres
and Biya are
peas in a pod
- but Guterres
gets over
in NY and
in the USA,
for now,
instead of being
jailed like
Patrick Ho.
Meanwhile at
least among
some Swiss parliamentarians, Biya
is no longer welcome:
Sylvain
Thévoz,
Parliamentarian
at the Geneva
council
launched a petition
on Wednesday
to declare
Biya persona no
grata because
Biya's body
guards
assaulted a
Swiss
journalist at
the
Intercontinental
hotel where
Paul Biya stays
for $40,000 a
day, case.
The
Parliamentarian
says the
continuous
stay of Paul
Biya in
Switzerland is
"a slap in the
face of human
rights
advocates and
a humiliation
to the city of
Geneva." Perhaps
Thévoz
should be
the mediator.
And Guterres
should be
declared non
grata, as he
has humilitiated
the UN, if that's
even possible
anymore...
Inner
City Press live
tweeted
the shameful
UNSC session
and uploaded
Fall's failing
statement here.
More
here.
***
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