Cameroon lawyer beaten up for defending gay man

Atoh

A group of assailants ambushed attorney Walter Atoh last month outside a Cameroon hotel where he stayed for safety after receiving messages threatening him with death if he did not stop seeking the release of a man imprisoned for homosexuality.

Atoh has resolved to continue the legal defense of the prisoner and hopes that LGBTI rights advocates will support the effort through donations to his client’s defense fund .

Cornelius Fonya, 35, of Limbe, Cameroon, is serving a nine-year prison sentence after his conviction in a trial marred by improprieties. Atoh, his attorney, is one of the few lawyers in Cameroon willing to represent LGBTI defendants.

If you care about fair treatment for victimized LGBTI people worldwide, please contribute to the costs of his legal representation.

This is how Atoh reported the incident to the State Counsel in Kumba:

At about 10:20 p.m. on Nov. 1, Atoh was taking a walk around his hotel when he was ambushed in the dark by unknown men wearing dark glasses. They kicked, slapped and beat him several times on his face and abdomen. “I was only rescued by the light of an oncoming car and some good Samaritans who heard my loud cry,” and chased away the assailants, Atoh said.

As they fled, the assailants shouted at him, “You and ya family no go get peace for this country.”

Atoh said the assault was obviously linked to a series of anonymous phone calls he has received that warned him to stop representing Fonya.

The State Counsel referred Atoh’s complaint to investigators.

Atoh was treated at a local hospital, where he was X-rayed and treated. A doctor’s certificate, issued the next day, instructed Atoh to take off two weeks to recover from injuries to his chest and abdomen.

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