Detained supporters of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement have refused to appear in court in protest to the decision by prison authorities to transfer 27 of their fellow detainees from the Kondengui prison to GSO police cells.

The other detainees who were supposed to appear at the Mfoundi High court on Thursday simply refused to leave their prison cells.

“We had a meeting with them (on Wednesday) and they all agreed they will not be going to court again if their fellow comrades are not brought back,” Barrister Simh Emmanuel, one of the lawyers of the detainees said.

One of the detainees who has also refused to appear in court is Barrister Michèle Ndoki after she arrived in court on Thursday only to discover the hearing for hear application for bail would take place in the magistrate’s chambers rather than in open court. Her lawyers say she will only appear in open court as was the case during the first hearing

It should be recalled that the 27 CRM detainees were whisked off from their prison cells on Tuesday by security forces after they denied to appear in court following a brawl over their choice to put on Cameroon jerseys marked Afcon 2019 as a sign to protest and blame the government for the withdrawal of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations hosting rights from Cameroon.

Sources say they have since been transferred to cells at the Special Operations Unit in Mvan but their lawyers say they have been unable to see them since then.