By DOH JAMES SONKEY IN YAOUNDE
High hopes that Barrister Agbor Balla and Dr Fontem Neba will regain their freedom on June 7, 2017 were dashed as the Military Tribunal threw out both bail request by lead counsel and judicial supervision option solicited by the government bench during the last hearing of June 7, 2017.
Suspense on a possible drama at the hearing was sparked up from the very beginning with the arrival of the ‘coffin revolution’ initiator, a poorly dressed Mancho Bibixy in handcuffs escorted by a warder. This was very uncharacteristic, since he is noted for his traditional dress code in past sessions.
Mancho Bibixy who alongside other Anglophone detainees started a hunger strike was a source of attraction as he arrived in an unbuttoned shirt with a short pair of trousers and moving with bare feet chanting songs for the freedom of Southern Cameroon.
Another drama was the weeping of the mother of epileptic Ndassi Julius to the hearing of the curious population.
As soon as the bail request and judicial supervision option were all thrown out by the presiding judge, one of the detainees collapsed on the spot and he was rushed for medical intervention.
Thepopulation was overtaken by panic at the military tribunal with the arrest of the son of Chief Justice Ayah Paul Abine, Barrister Ayah Ayah Abine who has been decrying arbitrary arrest and detention of his father at the Secretariat of Defense. He was arrested alongside one of his relatives and driven off in a gendarmerie van under tight military escort.
Though denied freedom, Agbor Balla, Dr Fontem Neba and most other Anglophone detainees could still be seen in high spirit expressing hopes for a possible better future. The hearing was adjourned for June 29, 2017.