VI. Beyond “Guilty or Not Guilty:” Impacts of Cases on the Defendants

Even homosexuality cases that are dropped or result in acquittals can have longstanding implications for the defendants. Criminal charges have involuntarily “outed” many people in Cameroon, with devastating results, including expulsion from the family or community.

For example, when two alleged lesbians were arrested in Ambam in 2012, and held at the gendarmerie brigade for four days, Esther B. said,

Other detainees mocked us. They knew what we were accused of. People came constantly to the brigade to see us. It had been publicized on the radio.

Following their provisional release, Esther B. and Martine A. returned home, only to find that their landlady would no longer tolerate them in the room they rented. Esther moved into another room with a friend, who was then harassed for “keeping a lesbian in the room.” Esther stayed indoors most of the time. She recounted, “I went to the market one day and it was as if I was a thief—people threw rocks at me.”[133] Both women eventually moved to Yaoundé, where they could be relatively anonymous.

Roger M. told us, “Almost all of us, when we come out of prison, we’re rejected by our families and by society.” In his case, he explained:

The case has been in the media too much. It creates threats to me. Everyone is against me now in my family. They were not aware [of my sexual orientation] before. I studied to be a priest, and am still enrolled as one. I am not in contact with my family now except my aunt who is my nourrice [the woman who raised me]. She is supportive, but has problems with the rest of the family because of this.[134]

G.M., arrested in December 2012 after two of his friends were seen kissing, lost his opportunity to study. He said,

My parents refused to sponsor me [for school fees] because of that. They said that I should just go and make my own living. They did not know before that I am gay…. I also have problems with my brother. He doesn’t want to see me because of what happened.[135]

Among those who spent time in prison on homosexuality charges, several of those who were interviewed for this report bore physical scars as a result of violence suffered in prison. Roger M. presents a small scar on his eyebrow. He told ADEFHO, CAMFAIDS, and Human Rights Watch:

I have this injury from a detainee in my cell who was very violent and said I had to leave his cell. He beat me several times. The last time, he tried to hit me in the head with a wooden stool. I dodged the blow and was struck on the forehead and eyebrow. I still remained in the same cell.

I was in prison for 17 months. During the whole time there was violence [against me].[136]

One defendant was raped repeatedly in prison, causing both physical and emotional damage. He was also beaten so severely that a rib was fractured.[137] Prison guards made no attempt to stop the gang rape and assault, and no one was punished for it, highlighting another sad irony of Cameroon’s law: people are convicted to prison time for consensual sexual conduct, but once in prison, convicts who are not considered “homosexual” can sexually victimize them with impunity.

Another defendant, released from prison in 2011 after serving out a sentence on homosexuality charges, now suffers from depression and from uncontrollable violent episodes. He is in counseling, but feels he cannot talk about his sexual orientation with his psychologist, creating what may be an additional barrier to recovery.[138]