In Cameroon, long-running defamation case highlights vexatious suits against journalists

Dakar, August 20, 2024—Cameroonian journalist Samuel Bondjock has had to appear in court more than 30 times in almost 30 months to face criminal defamation charges that could put him in jail — even though the country’s media regulator dismissed the complaint against him in 2022.

His next appearance in the capital Yaounde is scheduled for August 27, but Bondjock has little hope there will be any resolution in what isseen as a classic example of a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) — a vexatious type of lawsuit increasingly used against those who express critical opinions.

These suits frequently invoke criminal defamation laws to punish and censor journalists. In Cameroon, Bondjock — the publishing director of the privately owned online news site Direct Info — is the country’s latest journalist to be accused of defaming influential figures such as football stars, writers, government officials, lawmakers, pastors, and the politically connected.

“Authorities must end the legal harassment and weaponization of Cameroon’s judicial system against Samuel Bondjock, especially as the country’s media regulator has already exonerated him,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, in New York. “Cameroon should follow the examples of several other African states to decriminalize defamation, in line with a 2010 resolution of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and must ensure that SLAPP lawsuits are not used to censor the press.”

In March 2022, Ahmadou Sardaouna, the managing director of the state-run Cameroon Real Estate Company (SIC), filed criminal complaints against Bondjock for “impugning his honor” in two articles published in December 2021 and February 2022, according to CPJ’s review of the complaints and news reports.

Four months later, Sardaouna also lodged a complaint with Cameroon’s National Communication Council (NCC) for “unsubstantiated accusations likely to damage his image.” The media regulator ruled in Bondjock’s favor, saying his journalism had met “professional requirements of investigation and cross-checking,” according to a copy of its July 29, 2022, decision, reviewed by CPJ.

Bondjock told CPJ that he has little hope that his trial will begin this month because Sardaouna’s absence led to repeated postponements of previous hearings  “The plaintiff is doing nothing but delaying tactics to prolong this trial in order to exhaust me financially, morally, and even professionally, by wasting my time. My lawyer defends me despite many unpaid fees,” he said.

Joseph Jules Nkana, Sardaouna’s lawyer, told CPJ that his client had not refused to attend previous hearings and that mediation was undertaken by “Bondjock’s colleagues.” However, the journalist had refused to meet to conclude an agreement, Nkana said.

François Mboke, president of the Cameroon network of press outlet owners, who initiated mediation in 2022 to stop the prosecution, told CPJ that it had not been successful.

Bondjock told CPJ there was no reason for him to try to seek an agreement with Sardaouna, as the NCC had ruled in his favor.

Under Cameroon’s penal code, defamation is punishable by a prison sentence of six days to six months and a fine of up to 2 million CFA francs (US$3,330).

In a joint 2023 submission to the U.N. Human Rights Council scrutinizing Cameroon’s human rights record, CPJ and other rights groups noted at least four cases of arrest and conviction for defamation between 2019 and 2022, including against Martinez Zogo, who was killed in 2023.

Other sub-Saharan countries that have criminalized defamation include Nigeria, Angola, Togo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In June 2024, Niger reinstated prison sentences for defamation and insult that had been replaced by fines two years earlier.

Denis Omgba Bomba, director of the media observatory at Cameroon’s Ministry of Communication, did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment on Bondjock’s case via messaging app.