IV. Torture and Ill-Treatment

In a significant number of cases investigated for this report, victims reported suffering torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment at the hands of gendarmes, police, intelligence agents, or prison wardens. Because most homosexuality prosecutions in Cameroon depend on a confession, the risk of law enforcement officials resorting to torture or ill-treatment in order to extract confessions may be particularly acute.

Cameroon is a state party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Torture and ill-treatment, including beatings, also violate Section 30(4) of Cameroon’s Criminal Procedure Code.[110]

The Ministry of Justice insists that “Cameroonian judicial officers annul proceedings where it is established that confessions were obtained through torture.”[111] However, none of the proceedings on homosexuality charges were annulled on this basis.

Torture and Ill-Treatment by Gendarmes

The majority of torture or ill-treatment of alleged gays and lesbians that we documented was at the hands of gendarmes.

One of the minors arrested in Yaoundé said that when he was arrested by gendarmes and interrogated at the SED brigade, “The investigator beat me on the bottoms of the feet, 50 strokes with the back of a machete.”[112] Another person arrested in Yaoundé also said he was beaten by gendarmes at the SED brigade, who punched him in the mouth, hit him repeatedly, tore his shirt, and threw away his shoes.[113]

Thierry O. said that he was arrested by gendarmes while walking with another man in the street in Douala in September 2011 and was accused of attempted homosexuality. He said he was taken to Bonanjo Gendarmerie Camp and was tied to a chair. Gendarmes beat him with the butts of their sub-machine guns, with belts, and with the flat side of a machete, including on the bottoms of the feet. He was left tied to the chair for about eight hours, he said. After he was transferred to the judicial police the next morning, where he was released for lack of evidence, Thierry could not walk for two weeks.[114]

Alec S. told Human Rights Watch about how gendarmes tortured his friend, Joseph P., in Limbe in 2011:

Around June, Joseph met a guy. They were close friends. Joseph told the guy he’s gay and that he wanted to have a relationship. The guy said there was no problem and that they should go for a drink.

Later on the guy called four of his brothers. Two of them were in the military, from BIR [Battallion d' Intervention Rapide, Rapid Intervention Battalion]. They got Joseph at the bar. They took him to the army camp, Manawa Bay Military Camp in Limbe. He was stripped naked and tortured. He was molested for four hours. They beat him with an iron belt, asked him to swim in the gutter, and burned plastic bags on his chest.

He came home like that. When he came in he was well-tortured. The next morning I took him to the hospital. I asked him not to file a complaint, because there are no rights. We gays don’t have any backup.[115]

Torture and Ill-Treatment by Police

The organizations documented two recent cases in which suspects were ill-treated by the police. As described in Section II, above, Samuel A. told Alternatives-Cameroun, CAMFAIDS and Human Rights Watch that when police arrested him, they beat him with clubs and belts and forced him to sleep naked on the floor.[116]

Jonas K. and Franky D. said that when they were arrested and interrogated, police beat them with clubs and subjected them to death threats. They also said that police filmed them on their mobile phones.[117]

Torture and Ill-Treatment by Intelligence Agents

The organizations documented one case of degrading treatment at the hands of intelligence agents, as described in Section II, above. Intelligence agents in Kribi, under orders from the Chief of the DGRE Liaison Office, forced a man to walk naked from the beach to the DGRE office. They also took nude pictures of him at both locations.

Torture and Ill-Treatment by Prison Personnel

The young men arrested on homosexuality charges in Kumba, described in Section II, were beaten by prison wardens. While this was not during interrogations or the investigation process, it raises concerns about the discriminatory attitudes of state officials toward suspected LGBT people. G. M. recounted,

In the prison we were tormented and beaten by the warders [prison guards]. We almost died. They beat us continuously for three days … beating us on the buttocks and legs with a thick rubber tube that has wires inside.

They shaved our heads. The first night, we slept naked as continuous punishment. The second night, we refused. We were stubborn. The prisoners supported us and said they would riot if we didn’t put on our clothes. The warders used five liters of water and made us lie down. They poured it in our mouths—five liters in each person. We almost died.

They made us sing a very funny song, which means, “We have sex through the anus” in pidgin.[118]

Anal Examinations

A number of men suspected of homosexuality were taken to medical professionals for forced anal exams. These exams allegedly prove whether someone has been anally penetrated. But even when the medical professionals conducting anal exams did not produce evidence of penetration, it did not help defendants in Cameroon. For instance, one young man told CAMFAIDS and Human Rights Watch:

The next morning they took me and [another detainee] to the hospital to see if we’d been penetrated. A woman put on gloves and put in her hand. She said I had not been penetrated. On my PV [statement], they had at first said that [my friend] fucked me, but because of this exam they then said I fucked [my friend].[119]

Anal examinations have no scientific value. According to one of the drafters of

UN Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel,

Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (otherwise known as the Istanbul Protocol), “forensic anal examinations have no value, whatsoever, in identifying

consensual anal intercourse.”[120]

The intrusive nature of the exam may show an intention to punish and/or humiliate the person examined. When state authorities carry out such acts, they may be considered to rise to the level of cruel and inhuman treatment, violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture.